Harry Potter: Hero
by WriteShop
Summary: Voldemort is back, and nobody gives a damn. Or so it seems to Harry Potter. After his loss last spring, Harry decides he has to put a stop to Voldemort, since nobody else is doing enough. Combine that crusade with school work, relationships, a certain young witch who is confusing the heck out of him, and you get a really rough year. 6th year AU, third in a trilogy
1. Prologue

This story is the conclusion of the trilogy begun in Harry Potter: Zero (and continued in Harry Potter: Metamorphosis). In case you don't recall what happened in those two stories, here is a quick synopsis.

(Yes, the text here is rather dense. I am trying to cram a whole story into a single page)

.

**What has gone Before:**

**A summery of "Harry Potter: Zero"**

Harry Potter was sorted into Ravenclaw, not because he is a strong student, but because it is the least inappropriate house. In fact, he is a slacker who has tried to keep his head down and avoid attention in his first three years at Hogwarts. It is a survival skill that he learned living with the Dursleys.

He has avoided the Mirror of Erised, or of interacting with Quirrell or chasing into the Chamber of Secrets or any such extra-curricular activities. He is a mediocre student, mostly due to a lack of self confidence. He spends all his free time hanging out either with Neville, another insecure student from Gryffindor, or Draco, an abusive Slytherin who enjoys mocking Harry.

But in his fourth year, the triwizard tournament is announced, and somehow, his name is added to the roster of Champions. As Harry tries to prepare for a task that he know is beyond his abilities, a Beauxbatons professor, Adam Loew, volunteers to teach him Martial Arts, as a way to improve his self confidence. He also meets a severe young witch who is always hiding in Fleur's shadow – Hermione Granger, who transferred to Beauxbatons from Hogwarts during her first year.

As the tasks progress, Harry draws closer to his housemates, especially Terry and Luna. Luna has been at Harry's side for much of the year, often unnoticed, and as the year draws to a close, they start a sort of relationship, which forces a break between Harry and Draco, though oddly, Goyle is supportive of Harry, and himself draws away from Draco. Or perhaps not so oddly, as Goyle becomes romantically involved with Hannah Abbott.

While Harry's martial arts practice has the desired effect of improving his skills in his other subjects, Harry starts to love the disciple for itself, and he pulls in Ron, a driven, if not terribly bright, Gryffindor into joining him.

Despite the unexpected chaos in Harry's life, the school year goes well for Harry, and he manages to make a good showing at the tasks, even winning at the second task when he rescues Luna from the merfolk village. But the last task ends badly, as after an arduous race through a hedge maze laced with traps and monsters, Cedric lets him grasp the Goblet first.

Harry is immediately transported to a graveyard where Moody captures him and uses his blood to recreate Voldemort's body. Harry manages to steal Voldemorts wand as the Dark Lord is monologuing to his Death Eaters, and then flees for his life, leaving his own wand behind. After a desperate race through the graveyard, he grasps the Goblet again in the faint hope that it is a two way portkey.

And it is. It brings him back to the maze, where Cedric immediately demands that he go back to the graveyard. When Harry refuses, Cedric threatens him, and aims his wand at Harry. Feeling betrayed by all those he trusted, Harry lashes out with deadly force, blasting a hole in Cedric's chest just as the professors burst in through the hedge maze.

Harry end up arrested, but the other Champions give testimony that Cedric assaulted them as well, so there is a ray of hope for Harry. In the end, Harry is released to return to the Dursleys, until the trial.

.

**A summery of "Harry Potter: Metamorphosis"**

.

Harry spends the summer with the Dursleys, trying to not think about what happened at the end of the Third Task (or much of anything else). He spends his time pretending to do the chores assigned by his Aunt while instead working out on Dudley's exercise equipment and continuing his martial arts training. This is only interrupted by periodic nightmares of Voldemort torturing and killing people, and sparring with Dudley, who has taken up boxing. When Luna tries to get in touch with him, he can't bring himself to think about the wizarding world, so he blows her off.

The summer ends with Harry having to stand trial for defending himself against Cedric, but the trial ends with an attempt to foster him out to a Death Eater family. Between that and the Dursleys kicking him out for being a murderer, Harry finds himself living with the Weasley's and getting to know Ron, who he had been only faintly friendly with before.

When Harry returns to Hogwarts, Luna ignores him, pretending that she does not know who he is. He is further isolated as the Daily Prophet has been printing slander against him, so as to discredit his claim that Voldemort has returned. His peers avoid him. The only exception is Hermione, the Beauxbatons girl genius, who graduated early and is now just taking two classes at Hogwarts as she preps for her OWLs.

Harry and Hermione grow close as they both have to deal with Umbridge the Horrid, who rules DADA with a doily'ed hand. As both become increasingly frustrated with the lack of a solid DADA class, they decide to organize a Defense club. That, and they start dating, despite their different outlooks on life: Hermione is very orderly and studious, while Harry has a problem with authority and is only working hard to impress Hermione (and stay alive)

Things come to a head when Fred and George sneak a portable swamp into the school grounds and disillusion it right in front of Umbridge's office. All club activities are banned, and the DA becomes an illegal club. Nevertheless, the DA continues to meet. Harry slowly takes more and more of a leadership role, training the DA to fight separately as well as in groups. The semester ends in a large game of capture the flag between Neville's Team Green and Terry's Team Blue with Harry refereeing. Neville's team wins, despite having weaker players, because of better strategy.

Over winter break, Harry and Hermione spend some time together, and Hermione informs him that she will start an internship at the Ministry of Magic in the spring, cataloging prophecies for the Department of Mysteries. Harry is concerned that he won't see her anymore, so Hermione creates pair of Protean charmed medallions so that they can stay in touch (Harry shoots down her first choice - a pair of rings).

Harry also starts learning Occlumancy with Remus Lupin, who informs him that Sirius Black is innocent of the crimes that he is accused of, as well as his godfather. Harry and Sirius meet and sneak off to London, to go to a comic book store and then a fish & chips place.

In early spring, Harry gets a message from Hermione on his charmed Medallion that she is trapped in the Department of Mysteries by Death Eaters. Harry organizes a rescue mission. They get split up, but eventually find Hermione and they manage to defeat several Death Eater. Everything looks like it might end well, when a stray cutting spell catches Hermione in the chest. Hermione bleeds to death in Harry's arms.

Harry passes the rest of the semester is a haze. He goes to Hermione's funeral, and takes his OWLS, but the only thing that he cares about is getting revenge on Voldemort.


	2. Chapter 1

Are you certain you want to do this? The school year is barely over - we still haven't got back out grades!" Ron pointed out. They were having dinner at the Burrow, though the only other people present were Molly and Arthur: the twins were hard at work back in the shed that they had appropriated as their laboratory.

"Yeah, I want to learn a little onmyodo - At least one or two spells. It seemed like a cool magic system from what I saw of it in fourth year."

"But it's Japanese! And you have to do the chants in Buddhist!"

"So? It's another tool in my toolkit." Harry took another spoon full of soup. "And I am pretty certain that Buddhist isn't a language. According to what Professor Loew said back in fourth year, the chant is just to focus your mind, so you don't need to know what it means anymore than you do with the Latin that our spells are in."

Arthur nodded, "I asked around at work today, and I got in touch with a assistant secretary to the Japanese cultural attache to the Wizingamot. He says that he can tutor you, but you won't learn anything that you can't do just as well with a wand."

"See?" said Ron.

"I understand. And that's fine."

There was quiet at the dinner table for a few minutes as everybody ate, "Are you doing ok, Harry?" asked Molly.

"Yeah, I'm fine" came Harry's automatic response, but after a moment, he added, "Well, not completely, but I'm getting there."

Arthur nodded, "Keeping busy is a good cure. A new hobby is best. Why, during You-Know-Who's first rampage, I got into collecting Muggle techno-thingies as a way to deal with the stress and anger and everything else." He smiled, "And look at where that got me - I became the Ministry's top expert on enchanting muggle items, which lead to my current position."

Molly nodded. She was a strong believer in planning for your future. And that started with career counseling.

Harry thought about it, "Do you think anybody would be interested in continuing the DA over the summer?"

"What?" Ron almost choked on his soup. "The summer for is for kicking back and relaxing. Why on earth would anybody want to study more. Other than you, and, let's be honest, you're a trifle odd even for a Ravenclaw."

"Why? So the next time we encounter Death Eaters, we are ready for them."

"Harry, you shouldn't be worrying about things like that yet," began Molly.

"You probably won't have to deal with Death Eaters" added Arthur.

"Maybe" Harry replied noncommittally. "But it's still a good idea to be prepared."

The adult Weasleys looked at each other, and Arthur shrugged, "That makes sense. Just don't forget to take some time to relax."

"If you tell me the names of who you want to invite, I can give you the owl post addresses," added Molly.

"Great!"

*Hero*Hero*

It was just after dinner when Harry finally managed to get the twins alone. They were just outside their bedroom

"Hey. I want to ask you a question. A serious question." Harry asked quietly.

"Go ahead and ask" said the first twin.

"But we can't promise a serious answer."

"I need to know the name of the Death Eater who killed Hermione."

The twins stopped and looked at Harry, "I'm not certain if we should tell you something like that." Said one slowly. The other nodded agreement.

"Why? Because You're worried that I will hunt that him down and kill him?" Harry asked, his voice a low monotone.

"Ah, yes. Exactly!" nodded Fred 1, happy that Harry understood the problem.

"Or you will try and get yourself killed." added Fred 2, more morosely.

"My getting myself killed isn't your problem. Aren't you the guys always telling me to mind my own business, and not get in your way? Well, it's the same here. I'm going to hunt that bastard down and kill him, no matter what." Harry hissed intently, taking a step towards the twins, so that he was in their personal space "The only question is, will you make it easier for me?"

The twins glanced at each other, "We'll see what we can do. Just be careful."

"And if you need anything - potions or anything, call us."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry waited in the Weasley's backyard - he had owled the DA members. He hadn't put too many details in the letters - he didn't know if parents would be opening up the mail, but he wrote that he wanted to have a DA organizational session, for next year.

Harry paced back and forth, going over his notes for what he was going to cover in this class.

"Harry, whoever shows up isn't going to want to train. They think this will be a social gathering with a little planning for next year."

"It's the DA." Harry replied, frowning, "Training to fight Death eaters is what it's all about."

"Harry, too intense. Tone it down a little or you'll scare the firsties. To most students, the DA is just a club. Some ARE there to learn how to defend themselves, but most just want to improve their spell casting and have fun."

"Yeah, fun" Harry replied, as if that was a foreign concept. He scowled and started scribbling on his notes, "I guess I should put that into the curriculum."

Ron rolled his eyes. Just at that moment, there was a small whirlwind, and Neville dropped to the backyard. He was soon joined by a cluster of Gryffindors - Dean and Seamus and Michael Corner – who had flooed over.

"Hey, Harry!" Great to see you're back in the DA" Michael held out his hand to shake, "It'll be nice having you running things again."

"Yeah, these two" Dean slapped Ron and Neville on the back, "are good, but you're on a whole 'nother level!"

"Thanks guys." Harry looked around._ 'I was hoping for a larger turn out'_. "I guess that's all the people that will be showing up, so lets get started. I was thinking we could use the Contengo charm to bounce a jinx back and forth. Kind of like dodge-ball, but with spells."

"But won't the spell fracture and fade after the first bounce?" Asked Luna.

Harry did a double-take '_When did she get here?' _"Uhm, yeah, uh if you were using a Protego. but Contengo produces a smaller, more solid shield that can deflect the spell intact." He walked over to a clear spot "Ok, let's pick teams and I'll show you the incantation. It's pretty simple."

*Hero*Hero*

After a couple of rounds of the game (and some ice tea and cookies, courtesy of Molly), Harry asked, "so, how about we practice some dueling?"

"Um, I think I'm going to call it a day." Seamus replied, and Dean nodded, "I'm going out to the movies with my family this evening."

"Ok, ok." Harry acquiesced, "We'll do the serious stuff once school starts back up."

"That's great!" Said dean, looking relieved.

"Yeah, but I do really have to get going" Seamus went inside, and Neville and Dean followed him to the floo.

"Harry" Harry turned to Luna. "I understand what you are doing, and I want to say I support it 100%" She nodded seriously and walked off.

Harry turned to Ron, "Um, what am I doing that she is supporting?"

Ron shrugged, "Just nod and smile. It's Luna."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry spent the rest of the week finishing the amulets that Adam Loew had advised him to make, when he wasn't practicing martial arts or trying to improve his combat magics.

"Ow." Ron got up off the ground yet again. "Really, Harry. Even without the amulets, you kick my ass on a regular basis, so I don't see the point of this." It was Sunday, the amulets were done, and now Harry was trying them out. Which mostly involved him thumping Ron.

"The point is to test the amulets."

"They work, they work all ready!"

"Yeah, they do." Harry smiled. When he had the amulets on, it felt like he was more awake. He noticed things better, and he was more decisive. For a martial artist who had been training for years, that effect might have been trivial, but Harry didn't have decades of reflexes built in. This gave him the next best thing.

Now he could start on the second set, the ones that would actually increase his speed beyond normal. _'I probably __shouldn't__ mention those to anybody, though - Molly might flip out if she realize that they are potentially dangerous._'

Harry checked his wand holster - the wand was still there. Hermione had given it to him for Christmas, but he hadn't used it, as the fact that it grasped the wand with the leather fringes instead of having a normal pocket made him nervous – what if the fringes got tired? His wand would slip through.

"When is that Onmyodo guy going to be here?" Harry whined, glancing at his watch.

"I think dad said he should be here at 10 - oh there he is. Let's go in."

*Hero*Hero*

"Hello. I am Assistant Secretary to the Cultural Attache Jin Ohtomo, but you may refer to me as Jin-Sensei" A thin middle aged man of about Harry's height greeted him as he came inside. "I have been instructed to teach you the basics of Onmyodo. I will give you an appreciate of the subtle art, but do not expect to be able to perform much magic, or any magic at all, really, after only a handful of lessons"

"I'm Harry Potter. And thank you. I will appreciate anything I can learn." Harry bowed awkwardly back.

"Good. Good. You would please to sit over here?" Jin-Sensei lead Harry into the Weasley's living room and sat down on the couch. Harry was about to sit down on the recliner when Jin- Sensei interrupted him "No - you will sit on the floor. You need to be able to relax, but not too much, or your chi will not flow properly. I understand you already know about Ofuda, so we will start right in on the chants, on the assumption that you have a functioning Ofuda to cast from."

"Now, repeat after me" Jin-Sensei began chanting slowly in Japanese.

By the time little Japanese man had left that evening, Harry brain was crammed full of jumbled Japanese Zen Buddhist chants.

*Hero*Hero*

"Do you think that Harry is pushing himself too hard?" Molly asked. She and Arthur were watching Harry practice with Jin Ohtomo in the living room. Molly had offered the kitchen, but Jin had insisted that they needed to be comfortable for Harry to get into the right frame of mind.

"I don't think so. From what Ron said, he and Hermione were very close. And she was his first official 'girlfriend'. Losing her probably hit him harder than he is willing to admit. Throwing himself into work is probably the healthiest alternative. Otherwise he could spend all summer depressed, wallowing in grief. This way, he will work it off."

"I'm just worried that he might get it into his head to go looking for Rastaban."

"Hmm. I'll talk to Dumbledore about it."

*Hero*Hero*

"Hello, Harry. How is your summer going?" Albus asked as Harry came down stairs. It was 10am, and Harry had decided to sleep in, for once.

"Morning" Harry replied blearily as he staggered to to get some tea. As he took his cup, he realized something was not right. "Professor - what happened to your hand?"

Dumbledore held up his left arm. "I had a slight accident with a cursed magical item. These are the wages of carelessness, Harry." The arm ended at the elbow. "Finish your breakfast, and then I have a favor to ask of you. I would like you to come with me as I visit a prospective teacher."

Harry sipped some tea. As he came more awake, he asked, "Why me?"

"Because Horace Slughorn is a talented Potions Master, but he is semi-retired, and ambivalent about teaching again. But he very much enjoys meeting interesting people. I am hoping that meeting you will catalyze his interest in meeting other Hogwarts students."

'_Huh. There's worse things than being 'interesting'. I guess'_ Harry grabbed some toast. "Ok, I'll come with you. But in exchange, I want you to teach me - I want to learn how to use transfiguration to fight, the way you did with You-know.. Voldemort." Harry decided that if he couldn't even say the name, then there was no way he would be able to stand up to snake-face when it came time to put that bastard down for what he did to Hermione. He hadn't cast the spell that killed Hermione, but he was the root cause. And if Harry had learned anything from Petunia and weeding her garden, it was that you had to get the roots out. Harry blamed Voldemort almost equally for what his followers had done.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Harry. Spells like that are a legacy of my misspent youth. I would much prefer to have you enjoy you Hogwarts years without worrying about fighting or war."

Harry nodded. Dumbledore was wrong, but Harry didn't quite know how to say it. Besides, he had learned the hard way that adults were unreliable - first the Dursleys, then Cedric.. "Then how about some advanced advanced tutoring with Flitwick?"

Albus smiled, in bemusement, "Harry, such a mercenary attitude is not something I would indulge in, if I were you. Life is not just about money and acquisitions. But in this one case, I'll go along with your request, since education is always its own reward."

Harry nodded at the old fool. _'No wonder he's a teacher - he wouldn't last a day if he had to make a living otherwise.'_

*Hero*Hero*

Horace Slughorn's house was a neat two story building in the village of Budleigh Babberton. Dumbledore had apparated them to just outside the home. Albus knocked on the front door, but when there was no reply, he quietly spelled the door open.

As they walked into a neat little living room, a house elf walked out of the kitchen "What is you doing here? Master is not home!" he called out in his tiny voice, clearly agitated.

"Oh, when will Horace return?"

"Not for many months! He has gone on vacation. To the Continent!" the elf waved his hands emphatically.

"Hmm. And has he been gone long?" Albus asked, leaning over so he could run his fingers over a fine wooden end table near the love-seat. He sniffed his fingers.

"Oh, yes! He has been gone days. And won't be back for a long time. Maybe not ever."

"Really?" Asked Albus, "well, he'll end up missing his chance to meet Harry Potter." Albus gestured to Harry, "Not only is he connected to the defeat of Voldemort as a babe in arms, but his is an impressive student in his own right." Dumbledore took a napkin from his pocket and wiped up the small puddle of red wine. "He was the winner of the Triwizard tournament in his fourth year. Last year, he was leading a seminar on Defense for other students. He has twice confronted Voldemort. A very impressive young man, wouldn't you say, Horace?" He showed the red blotch on the napkin to the House elf.

The house elf looked agitated.

"House elves don't drink their master's wine, Horace."

"Oh, bother." The house elf stretched and grew into a portly gentleman in his later years. He turned to Harry, "But I am pleased to meet you, Mr. Potter. So what is this I hear about you teaching other students?"

"I, ah ran ran a club. we called it the Defense Association. We practiced dueling and defense spells and stuff." Harry replied awkwardly. He wasn't used to praise. And usually, getting the attention of adults lead to punishments.

"Hmm. And were these the same students that were wiling to follow you into the Ministry on a rescue mission? Hmm… Very impressive." Horace rubbed his chin. He turned back to Dumbledore, "Very well. I will take you up on you offer, but only for one year."

"Wonderful! I can't wait to have you back! You always were a wonderful teacher."

"Thank you" Slughorn preened. "Would you care to stay for some tea and cookies? I can have some ready in a few."

"Thank you, Horace, but I have to get back to Hogwarts" Dumbledore raised his missing hand, "I had a slight accident with a cursed item, and I need to finish my regime of potions."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry stared up at his ceiling. Between training with Ron, lessons with Jin and Remus, this was the first free day he had had in a while. Which meant that he had screwed up. Ron was shopping with his mother. The twins were at work.

And Harry had time to think.

He kept seeing Hermione lying dead in his arms. And he didn't know what to feel. He wasn't angry anymore. That had worn off. Though he did want to find the Death Eater who done that and blast his head off. And then do the same to Voldemort.

Well, ok, he was still angry, but it wasn't the blinding rage that would seize him in quiet moments at the end of term. Now, it was more.. a sense of horror, and of loss.

'_Time to go do something.'_ Harry swung his feet of his bed. '_Maybe Neville is available.'_

*****Hero*Hero*

"Ok, Harry now relax and visualize the kanji as you repeat the incantation."

Harry nodded and followed the instructions. The problem with onmyodo was that the incantations were longer. On the up side, since Japanese magic had grown out of a warding system, shield spells were very easy to cast. By the end of the second session, Harry wast able to cast a shield almost every time.

Any other spell, though was still beyond him. As best as Harry could understand, every Japanese spell started out with the incantation for a shield, and then built on that to create different effects. Even if those effects had nothing to do with shielding, like transfiguration. And it was all tied in with meditation, which Harry couldn't get the hang of either. Either the whole thing didn't make any sense to a British mind, or Jin was a lousy teacher.

"You are doing very good, mister Potter. But Japanese arts are subtle, not easily understood by western minds." Jin-Sensei (as he liked to be called) lectured. "Our art and poetry are like our magic. Often, I hear English wizards complaining about our art. They do not appreciate our paintings, because you need to pause and think on what you are seeing. They are not gaudy, like yours, where is a single glance is an assault on the senses" he said with a smile. Harry rolled his eyes. This was the third time Jin-Sensei had come back to harp on the same topic just today.

Harry was sitting in a meditation pose on the floor. He continued trying to relax, but Jin's babbling was making it difficult. This was the last of their four weekly sessions. Harry released a breath, _'Relax, he tells me, but how can I do that when he doesn't stop talking. And how can he be a politician when he's so ANNOYING._' Harry wished he could use his anger instead of calm, like Remus had shown him in his occlumancy lessons. It would give him options for times like this.

"And the same is true of our sports" Jin explained, taking a slurping sip of his iced coffee, "In England, you play sports with large groups, where one person's failings can be concealed by his team mate's skill. But in Japan, every child learns Judo. That forces them to perfect their body, and to harmonize their body, mind and spirit, so that.."

"Do you know Judo?" interrupted Harry, straightening his legs before they cramped.

"Why yes. I was ranked third in my class. Every morning, I spend fifteen minutes going through.."

"Ok, lets go." Harry had been growing more and more annoyed with this 'Assistant Secretary to the Cultural Attache Jin Ohtomo' '_It'll be good to see how my __martial__ arts compare to an official school.'_

"Go? Go where?"

"I want to see how your Judo works. Lets spar." Harry stood up and stretched.

"Young man, I do not wish to hurt you." Jin replied, with a condescending smile.

"Then don't" Harry remembered Adam Loew saying that a skilled martial artist knew how to pull his attacks at the last moment so as not to actually hit his opponent.

Jin stood up. "Very well, but I do not see the point of this."

The two of them walked out into the backyard.

"Let us begin." Jin bowed. Harry bowed at the same time.

Jin started bouncing lightly from foot to foot, while Harry stood in a slight crouch, unmoving.

Jin advanced slightly. Harry still didn't move

Jin feinted a grab at Harry's hands.

Harry exploded forwards, slapping Jin's arm away with his left hand and coming in for a quick strike to the ribs with the right at the same hand. As Jin staggered back, Harry grabbed his flailing right hand with his own right, and the then shot shot his left right across Jin's chest as he stepped behind him.

Harry stepped back to let Jin get up off of the ground.

"That was not too bad." Jin took a fighting stance, "you must have.." he started as Harry stepped in, slapped his arm down, palmed him in the chin gently, then hit him with his palms on the chest and the back of the head at the same time. As Jin staggered, Harry took a step forward and twisted Jin's chin like a lightbulb.

Harry stepped back to let Jin get up off of the ground.

"I, ah, am a little out of practice, so let us stop here, if you don't mind, Harry-san" Jin stood up, casting a quick spell to remove the dirt from his robes.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry ran down the stairs when he heard the floo, almost knocking down Ron, "It's great to see you, Loew-Sensei" Harry caroled as the huge man straighten up and brushed off the soot.

Adam laughed, "I don't insist on formality. Just Adam is fine. Besides, I am just here to say hello."

"So you won't have time to train with us?" asked Ron with disappointment in his voice as he joined Harry in the Living room,

"I am sorry, no. I have obligations in the Muggle world, in Turkey, which I need to see to. But I would like to hear what the two of you have been up to this summer. Are you studying Japanese magic, Harry?"

As Ron lead the trio into the living room, Harry talked about his lessons in Onmyodo. He pulled out some of the Ofuda that he was working on.

"But I'm not certain how to carry these - I don't want to have to be digging through my pockets when I want to cast a shield spell.

Adam nodded, "While it is traditional to write O-Ofuda on paper, you can inscribe them on other materials. You should avoid metal, but silk and wood both work very well." Adam rubbed his (large) chin. "did you ever finish those charms that I showed you last summer?

"Yeah, I just tested them out. They work great! I don't understand why everybody doesn't use them!"

"Because they are difficult to make, and British wizards are very skeptical of foreign magics," Adam then leaned in, "Additionally, they are banned in all wizarding sports. But the reason I asked was because you can draw an Ofuda in miniature on a small piece of wood, and dangle it as a charm off of your left bracelet. Here' I'll show you how to do that."

Ron peered over Harry's shoulder as he and Adam talked about the technical details of Japanese magic. "I've seen something similar!" he pointed to an Ofuda, "I think it was in Egypt, when we were visiting my brother after second year."

"Mmm. That Ofuda has several warding elements draw into it, one of which is from the Seal of Solomon. Here, I'll show you." Adam reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a dog eared, leather bound book. He flipped through until he came to a diagram "This is a seal of Solomon. Tradition has it that Solomon invented it so that he could seal away an evil Djinn inside a bottle. Though I personally don't know how you would go about telling the difference between an evil Djinn and the regular kind. They are all extremely capricious and violent."

Harry studied the seal. "Does it work?"

"Well, of course. Here - see that element that is to join the material to the immaterial. Djinn are creatures of wind, which is why it is written in Hebrew.." Adam continued, punctuating his lecture with amusing anecdotes of people who had encountered Djinn.

It wasn't until Molly had served dinner that Adam was finished with his impromptu lecture, yet he managed to keep the boys attention.

As the Weasleys ate stew (Adam had politely declined), and Adam chatted with Arthur, Ron whispered, "I wish we had more teachers like him. Maybe he could teach History in place of Binns."

"Yeah, But I'd feel bad for firing Binns. I know he stinks, but he must really love teaching, if he came back from the dead to do it some more."

Ron shrugged. "So don't tell him. It's not like he would notice that no students showed up to class. And we could turn in the homework assignments from the previous years."

Harry nodded. Binn's wouldn't notice. Most students already did just that - they bought copies of last years homework from enterprising Slytherins (or, previously, the Weasley twins) and turned it in as their own.

*Hero*Hero*

The summer passed, and slowly Harry relaxed. By late July, he was back to training just in the mornings, and lazing around the rest of the day.

"So you have to go stay with your creepy relatives for your birthday?" Ron was laying on the grass, watching the clouds

"So Dumbledore claims. But they aren't creepy. They're just jerks." Harry sat nearby, looking out across the field towards the center of Ottery St. Catchpole. They sat silently like that for a while.

"You want to come over this Sunday? I'll invite Neville as well."

"Won't the Dursely's object?"

"Probably. But that's part of the fun."

"Dude, no. That's not my idea of a good time." Ron shook his head. After a pause he added, "Invite the twins. They like being assholes."

A smile spread across Harry's face, "now that, is a very good idea."

*Hero*Hero*

"Boy. Take your stuff up to your room" Vernon greeted Harry at the door to 4 Privet drive and then walked back into the living room, ignoring him.

"Gee, thanks for the warm welcome. Incidentally, a couple of my friends are coming over on Saturday."

Vernon froze just as he was about to sit down into his favorite recliner. "Friends? Are they freaks like you?"

"No." replied Harry calmly, "They aren't like me. They haven't killed anybody."

Vernon glanced nervously at Harry, and then very gently lowered himself into his recliner. But he kept watching the teen out of the corner of his eye while pretending to watch the telly.

Harry smirked to himself and sauntered into the kitchen, past Petunia, who pretended that he didn't exist as she chopped vegetables for dinner. Except she too watched him out of the corner of her eye. Then, taking a bottle of soda, Harry chugged half of it straight from the bottle. With a happy sigh, Harry screwed the top back on and replaced the soda in the refrigerator

Nobody said a word.

NOW he went up to his room.

*Hero*Hero*

"Oy. Your muggle houses are so small!" were the first words out of Fred's mouth as Harry let him into 4 Privet Drive.

"I'm Fred, incidentally, and this is my twin brother, Fred" Fred walked over to Vernon and held out his hand to shake. Vernon stared at it like it was a poisonous snake. "Uhm, muggles do shake hands, right? They don't do that bowing thing that the Japanese do?" Fred asked Harry as Vernon squeezed past him and out the front door to the waiting car. The Dursley's were just going out to the movies. Or the mall. Or whatever their excuse was not to being in the house at the same time as three wizards.

"Don't break anything, boy! If you break it, you have to buy a replacement!" Vernon blustered through the open window of the car.

"No worries" called out Fred, "If we break anything, we'll just spell it back together, as good as new."

"Maybe even better!" added Fred.

Vernon paled and gunned the engine.

"So, show us this Felly-vision that Dad keeps talking about."

"Do you mind if we grab some food?"

"Yeah, go ahead, " replied Harry as he scooped up the remote and turned on the cable box, "Just don't take the coke - I drink that straight from the bottle."

"Another microburst hit Brockdale Bridge during rush hour, killing several motorists and tipping the bridge from it's moorings. Experts are unable to explain how this could have happened." The news anchor was saying on the television.

"Do you think that's the work of Death Eaters? Asked Harry.

"Probably. Dad says that there have been numerous attacks. The obliviators are trying to minimize the fallout while the Aurors still have no leads. Earlier this week, a muggle junior minister was Imperiod to think he was a duck."

"Is Dumbledore doing anything?"

The twins exchanged a glance, "We aren't supposed to tell you about this, but the Order of the Phoenix has been tracking the Death Eaters. There have been a couple of minor skirmishes, usually with an Order member who was already on the scene distracting the Death Eaters so that the civilians could escape."

"But that's a depressing topic. I want to know if you have football on the felly. Isn't that what muggles do when they get together? Watch football on the felly?" Fred sat down on the back of the couch, placing his feet squarely on Petunia's favorite cushion.

"Oh, and you mind if I bring out these chips? There is a whole big bag of them." Other Fred held up a huge 'family size' bag of Nachos

"Yeah, bring them. Lets see what's on."

*Hero*Hero*

It was with great relief that the Dursleys drove Harry top the King's Cross train station a few weeks later.


	3. Chapter 2

Harry walked along platform 9 and ¾, looking around at the (mostly) younger students. They all seemed so cheerful and carefree. Some of the first years returned his gaze, but many of the older students, who knew who he was, looked away, uncomfortable.

Harry sighed, '_So, it's going to be like last year. I bet they show __up__ for the DA anyways, though.'_

Harry walked down the length of the train until he found an empty compartment. He wasn't in the mood to deal with the stares. He had just sat down when Ron dropped into the seat across from him, "You know, getting to Kings Cross is SO much faster when you don't need to wait for your older brothers to get their shit together."

"How are they doing? Are they still hard at work in their 'skunkworks'" That was the name he and Ron had given the shed where the twins were creating various Wheezes. Partly because they were secretive about what they were doing, and partly because of an accident one time that was 'aromatic' enough that the neighbors complained. And the nearest were a quarter mile away.

"Pretty good. I don't quite follow what they were saying, but it was something about licensing and fees and stuff. It sounds like Zonko's is going to be selling a bunch of their stuff now."

The compartment door slid open again, and Neville came in, followed by Luna.

"Um, hi," Harry said, as the conversation died. There was an awkward pause before Neville asked, "So, when are we having the first DA meeting? I have to make up some fliers - you need to get the word out early, or you'll lose students to other clubs."

"Seriously?"

"I told you, many don't see this as a matter of life and death."

"I agree." Harry's head whipped around to Luna. "You can definitely depend on me." There was something off about the blond. The radish themed jewelry was gone, replaced by a rather attractive silver necklace with titanium charms that actually matched the elegant blouse under her robes. But it didn't go so well with her sickly smile: apparently the transformation did not come without a cost.

"Ok" Harry smiled, "Ok, that's great. So what I was thinking was we could continue with the same set up. I'll take over teaching the advanced material, Nev, you and Terry work on the basics, and Ron, you can do the advanced casting."

"Hey, I can teach advanced material also" Neville looked put out.

"Ok, we can rotate you though, but you're really good with the younger students."

"Yes, but even the younger students can benefit from having different teachers." Luna added, "Sometimes you can learn from one teacher something that made no sense from another. Maybe we can have the students work in groups: it will help the advanced student to solidify what they know by teaching it," She added, parroting back Dumbledore's mantra on tutoring.

"Yeah. I've heard that before, somewhere," Harry smiled back at his former remedial charms classmate. 'S_he's pretty' _which immediately sent a bolt of shame through him that he was noticing girls that way. It felt disloyal to Hermione.

Luna nodded solemnly, "In that case I will inform Dumbledore that you are paying attention in class."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry walked the length of the train. He needed some space - sitting in the same compartment with Luna was extremely awkward. Which was weird, since last year, he hadn't had any problem, despite her acting all weird. But now, she was acting friendly, in a distant sort of way, and he was.. he wasn't certain what he was, but he needed a walk.

"''ey 'Arry."

"Hello, Greg" Harry greeted the larger teen as he squeezed by him. Greg Goyle had what looked like an entire Black Forest cake shoved into his mouth, "So, you done with the diet?"

Greg quickly swallowed his titanic mouthful. "Noo. Not exactly." He looked around nervously, "I'm going to be back on carrots and water when we get to Hogwarts." He started away and then turned back quickly, "uhm, don't tell Hannah about this - I told her I was just going to the loo."

Harry nodded seriously, trying hard not to smile and pointed at his own chin, "you got some on there."

"Thanks" Goyle pulled out a large handkerchief and mopped his face clean.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry was about to head back when he spotted Draco sitting with a bunch of other 6th year Slytherins Despite his common sense telling him to keep walking, Harry opened the compartment door, "Hey, Draco, how's it hanging?"

The six teens crammed into the compartment turned to glare at him. "What do you want, Potter?" Draco asked coldly. It occurred to Harry belatedly that both Draco's and Theodore's fathers were in Azkaban after the confrontation in the Department of Mysteries. And he was pretty certain that Hermione had been the one who had stupefied Nott sr.

"I just wanted to be nice and say hi." Harry replied, his voice going higher than was really cool.

"You want to do something nice, Potter?" asked Theo, "How about you die for us." The other Slytherins laughed.

"Go away Potter. Grownups talking here." Draco coloroportissed the door shut.

*Hero*Hero*

It was the Welcoming Feast, and yet Severus Snape did not feel very welcome. As a matter of fact, he was having a remarkably bad day over all. No, make that a bad year. Not only had Narcissa railroaded him into helping Draco with his 'mission', not only had the Dark Lord returned, forcing him back into his old role of spy, but he had so sit and listen to that BLASTED hat make up another insipid song.

Yes, he understood the need to maintain morale and not to scare the children. But did it have to be so corny and saccharine?

"Thank you, ms. Hat, for that inspiring rendition" Dumbledore stood up, "I just have a few more words to add: The Forbidden Forest is, yet again this year, forbidden. Mr. Filch has just posted a new list of banned and dangerous items. Please check the list carefully - we wouldn't want to have another accident." Dumbledore held up his missing hand, to a collective gasp from the student body. Snape smirked. '_Maybe this year, for once, they will listen.' _

"Now, dig in" finished Dumbledore.

Meanwhile, at the Ravenclaw table, Harry was quietly taking a poll to see who was going to come to the DA.

"You can count me in." Terry said enthusiastically. He was sitting several seats down, sitting close with Nola Johnston, a pretty fifth year.

"Um, Padma?" Harry asked Padma, who was sitting on the other end of the table, ignoring Terry and anything else in his general direction. She finally turned around and scowled, "Yeah, I'll be there."

Harry tallied up the numbers, "This looks like a good turn out!" Harry beamed. "We're going to need more charmed Sickles…" His face fell as he remembered that the enchanted coins had been Hermione's idea. He forced himself to finish, "I'll get some more made up for the first meeting."

"So, what are we going to be practicing, oh great leader?" asked Terry.

"Um.." Harry's brain froze. He had been thinking so much about the logistics, he had forgotten to plan out the curriculum. Usually, Hermione took care of coming up with new spells for them to learn. But now... How on earth was he going to be able to do THAT?!

"I'll get back to you" Harry replied. His dinner sat like a lead weight in his stomach, '_I need to hit the library first thing after dinner.'_ But first... "Professor Flitwick - is it too late to sign up for the Ancient runes class?"

The diminutive professor, who had been handing out class schedules paused. "Not at all, but you will have to the introductory level class, with mostly third and fourth years."

"That's not a problem" Harry shrugged. He was used to not being at grade level. At least in this class he would have a decent excuse - he had just started the material.

*Hero*Hero*

"Harry - what are you doing here?" Harry almost flew out of his chair. Fortunately, the library was completely empty, except for him and the floating Firsty.

"Oh. Hello, Ginny. You scared the bejeebers out of me."

"GREAT! I've been practicing." She leaned in conspiratorially, "You know, when the twins did it to me, I never realized how much fun it was." She did a quick loop around the study coral where Harry was sitting before alighting on the bench opposite Harry. "But that doesn't explain what you are doing over here. First night of school, all the students are usually in their common rooms, getting to know each other or partying, for the upper years. So why are you in the library?'

Harry sighed, "I need to come up with some useful defensive charms to teach people. And I'm completely blank."

"Why do they have to be charms? The Twins managed to cause all sorts of havoc with transfiguration or simple jinxes."

"I already covered all the jinxes I can think of, and I suck at transfiguration. That's the one subject I have not been able to get." He said with a mournful sigh.

Ginny laughed "Well, it sucks to be you! Tata" and was about to sink into the floor when Harry called out "Ginny - I gotta ask: Did you, I mean do you know Luna Lovegood?"

"Oh, yeah. She used to live down the lane from me. I remember she got picked on all the time our first year. Weren't you dating her at one point?"

"Erm. um. Maybe? " Harry also tried to sink into the floor, but with less success. "So, um does she have a stuffed bear that you named 'Bear-ry Potter?"

Ginny's eyes got really big "I don't know what you're talking about" and she zipped into the floor.

A moment later, just her head poked out of the wall by Harry's elbow "And it was all Luna's idea. I just went along with her."

*Hero*Hero*

The first days of class went pretty well. Charms with Flitwick was pretty cool - they were starting to work on non-verbal casting.

Harry was casting Incidio while silently mouthing the incantation. The idea was to light the candle standing on his desk. So far he had managed to light the tip of his Yew wand on fire, but the flame hadn't been large enough to light the candle. Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly, '_just relax, and let the motions flow. It's just like casting it normally'. _He swished his wand and mouthed the words.

Foosh

The candle lit.

"Very good, mr Potter!" Chirped the small professor. "I think you can move on to casting the spell without mouthing the words."

"Great. Um, Professor, did the Headmaster talk to you about getting some advanced charms tutoring in?"

"Yes, he did, and I have given the idea some thought. It seems to me that you would get more benefit from teaching what you already know - that will help you solidify the basics, so I would like you to tutor a third year student - Dennis Creevy."

"Oh" Harry slumped in disappointment _'But I teach spells all the time, in the DA!'_ But he didn't say it. He had become accustomed to keeping the DA secret, and it now felt like his special 'thing'.

Seeing Harry's despondent look, Flitwick relented, telling him, "But you can come by during office hours and we will discuss some advanced applications of class material, like last year. Though students that require extra help will still take precedence."

"Ok, Professor" Harry beamed, "That'll be great!"

As Harry walked out of the classroom, he was certain he saw a flash of blond hair disappearing into an unused classroom.

*Hero*Hero*

Advanced Runes was actually a lot of fun. it was supposed to be hard class, and if Harry had been a third year, it would have been. Harry took his seat next to a pair of fourth year Hufflepuffs and started skimming the first chapter while he waited for Professor Babbling to make an appearance.

"Hello, class, I am glad to see so many of you electing to try something new and challenging." Prof. Babbling was a short, slightly plump woman in her thirties. She had a cheerful yet intense expression. "This class will have two components. In the first half of the year, we will just be learning the runes and their nuances. Later, we will be looking at the effects runes have on Wards. Yes, Mr. Potter?" she called on Harry as he raised his hand .

"What runes will you be covering?"

"Why, Norse runes. What other kind are there?"

"We won't be covering Egyptian or Japanese runes?"

"Oh, those aren't runes. While they can be used in wards and other spells, that is a topic for another class. As you will see, there is many nuances in just traditional runes, with their meaning changing based on context. We will have a busy year ahead of us. Yes we will, so let's get started" She clapped her hands together gleefully and turned to the chalkboard.

Harry groaned, _'Looks like she's going to cram knowledge into us, and she's going to enjoy doing it.' _Harry started copying the notes, _'at least It's not complicated.'_

*Hero*Hero*

The big surprise was when Harry walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, to find Snape perched there like a raven.

"Lets get started right away - we don't have much time. This year, we will be covering both dark creatures and self defense. Our first unit will be on Inferni" Snape went right into the lecture. He looked almost cheerful, which was a disturbing sight to see. The class progressed though a regular lecture, and all the students groaned when Snape assigned homework on the first day of class (Not that it was unexpected - it was Snape after all). But then, he did something unusual. Something very un-Snape-like. Something FUN.

"I want you to break up into pairs, and we will have a little contest." Snape cast a charm to expand the room. "One member of the pair will cast Protego, and the other will cast Stupefy. And working as a team, you will try to take out the other teams. We only have time for one or two rounds today, but we will continue this in the next several classes, until everybody has had a chance to go."

"Oy, Potter" Terry swooped in on Harry before anybody else. "Let's kick some ass."

An evil smile spread across Harry's face, "You're on. I'll take Protego."

"There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, Mr Boots." Snape scowled over their shoulders. Harry started - _'how does he always manage to do that- it's not like Potions, where you are looking down all the time.'_

"Get ready, the two of you are going first" Snape pointed to the empty end of the expanded room, "Draco, Nott. you're up as well"

Theodore Nott took up a stance in front of Draco, casting a shimmering Protego. Harry crouched slightly as he cast his own, weaker Protego.

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

And the spells went flying back and forth. Draco poured all his not-inconsiderably power into each spell, hammering down Harry's shield. After each deflection, the shield looked noticeable weaker, and Harry had to re-cast it. Harry was careful to never block Draco's spell head on, instead deflecting it off to the side (otherwise his shield might have shattered all together).

Meanwhile, Terry was pouring a stream of stupefies at Nott's powerful Protego, which easily deflected all of them. Until Terry paused for a fraction of a second, casting a stupefy that was substantially brighter. It sheared through the Slytherin's Protego and hit Draco square in the chest.

Nott looked down at his collapsed friend in confusion.

"Potter / Boots are the winners. Five point to Ravenclaw." Snape scowled in annoyance at having to utter those words.

The contestants got up from their stances as Snape revived Draco.

"But why do they get five points for a class assignment?" panted Nott. He was covered in sweat.

"Because neither Mr. Potter nor Mr Boots are out of breath, yet you lost. Class dismissed."

"What!" Draco looked annoyed. "There's no way that they are that much more powerful."

"They aren't. They are that much more skilled." Snape swirled his robes like a cloak and swept up to his new office.

*Hero*Hero*

At dinner that evening, the students compared their classes. "The new Potions teacher - Slughorn is really nice" Neville gushed, "I mean, he didn't yell at anybody, and the stuff he was saying made sense. You know, maybe potions is not that different from Herbology."

Harry rolled his eyes ,"Yeah, I told you so."

"I did not find 'Sluggy' nice" Luna interjected, "He is a smarmy, condescending git!" she scowled.

"Are you having problems with the material? asked Neville.

"No. But Snape I could trust. He hated everybody equally. He was nice to the Slytherins, but you could tell that he was faking it - he hated them as much as any other child. but this 'Sluggy' is all nice and smooth with students he likes, but if you don't fit with his preconceptions, then he talks down to you like you are a Dabberblimp!"

"Dabberblimp?" Harry quirked an eyebrow and looked at Neville. Neville shrugged. Harry looked back at the scowling Luna. "Why are you letting him get to you? You are expert at ignoring assholes. I've seen you - you just detonate a shoe in their general vicinity or something."

Luna smiled despite herself. "I don't think that will work with a teacher."

"So detonate your cauldron. That's what Nev always does."

"Hey!" Neville yelled, "That's not on purpose!"

"Yet is still happens like clockwork" Luna pointed out.

"Only because Snape made me nervous. I'll do better this year!"

"Ok, That's a deal," nodded Luna, "I'll take over your responsibilities."

"What?"

"You know - Conservation of detonations. If you aren't going to maintain the correct level, I'll have to step in and help." She bent over her food and began to nibble industriously.

Harry smirked at Luna's antics.

"Are you serious?" asked Neville. When he got no reply, he turned to Harry, "Is she serious?"

"Probably. We'll find out next class, I imagine."

Luna hid her smile by shoving another oversized piece of lettuce into her mouth and nibbling it down like a rabbit.

Neville sighed, "So, you got a curriculum for the next Defense Association meeting."

"I was thinking we could just review some material from last year. I figure most of students have forgotten a lot," Harry scratched at the back of his head sheepishly.

"That makes sense." Neville nodded.

"Yeah, you can show them what you did in DADA." Luna added.

"Oh?" Neville asked.

Harry quirked an eyebrow in surprise that Luna had already heard about that. "Yeah I guess that might draw students in. Terry and I hosed a couple of Slytherins in a two-on-two mock dual. And the odd thing is Snape almost complemented us."

*Hero*Hero*

"Good morning, class, and welcome to Potions" Horace Slughorn beamed at the assembled sixth years. "I am Professor Slughorn, and I hope to get to know all of you well soon." He clapped his hands together in enthusiasm, "To start the year, lets do something fun. How about we brew up some Hiccoughing Solution? Please turn to page 54 of your textbook. Don't worry, the potion is not difficult at all. I don't know why it is so far into the text." He leaned forward conspiratorially, "We'll start on the REALLY hard potions next class." he winked.

Ernie MacMillan turned to Harry and whispered, "Um.. Are we in the right place? This is Hogwarts, right? Where Potions is taught in the dungeon so that you know right off the bat that it's going to be torture?"

Harry shrugged as he started to sort ingredients, "have you had DADA with Snape yet?"

"Yeah. That was weird too. Snape isn't supposed to look like that."

"Like what?"

"Happy. Did he get a girlfriend or something?"

Harry froze, "Dude. Don't even say it. I can't even imagine a Mrs. Snape."

Ernie sliced open a tuber and sniffed it before throwing it into the cauldron, "Nah, if Snape ever gets married it will be to a cheerful, chipper young thing that likes to skin puppy dogs for fun. It will make the horror that much worse."

Harry nodded, "So, you coming to the DA meeting?"

"Don't know - are you doing anything good?"

"Well," sighed Harry, "The first session will be a review, 'lets-get-organized' sort of thing, but after that, yeah, we'll have something good."

*Hero*Hero*

"Back again, Harry?" Harry looked up from the pile of books that he was staring at blearily. The ghost of Ginny was hanging over the table.

"Yeah. I still need to find something for the Defense Association meeting."

Ginny cocked her head. which caused her whole body to rotate slightly. "I may be able to help you with that. Back in a jiff!" and she disappeared.

Harry quirked an eyebrow. After several moments, when nothing else happened, he shook his head and went back to studying. He was crammed into a study coral in the library, with a stack of books taller than him on two sides. The gentle sounds of students studying drifted around him, sometimes interrupted by quiet conversation. Harry was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. This was the third night in a row that he had come to the library after class, and the last two nights he had stayed late.

The problem was, this sort of research was not something he was good at.

"Hello, Harold." Harry looked up to see Luna handing him a napkin.

"Uhm, what's this?"

"It's to wipe up the brains that dribbled out your ears before you attract Wrackspurts. Liquified brains are to them like honey is to bees." She sat down opposite Harry and picked up one of the books, flipping through it casually. "You are still trying to find something to teach the DA?"

"Yes!" Harry hissed, while at the same time trying to inconspicuously dab at his ears. Just in case. "I need to have something good, or people won't come. And I really stink at this sort of thing. I've never had to do this kind of research. Yes, I can find new spells. but how do I know if they are going to be challenging but not too hard? And how do I find spells that are useful? Personally, I use mostly use simple spells in fighting, so I'm not even certain what I'm looking for!"

Somebody from the next coral over shushed him.

"Harry, lets cover Transfiguration in combat this year." Luna adjusted her necklace (she was back to wearing bottle caps), before starting to fidget with her hair.

Harry leaned back, "That's not a bad idea, except I stink at transfiguration - that's the one class where I haven't been able to really improve much in."

Luna nodded. "Lets go."

"Go where?"

"The land of milk and honey. Or in your case, brains." Luna dragged a very confused Harry Potter out of the Library and up to the Room of Requirements.

"You know, you could just explain what you mean."

"But I did."

"I mean in English. Of the sort that normal people understand."

"But then I would lose all the nuances." Luna scowled in concentration, "Ug. Me Luna. You Harry. I talk. You listen. You learn. You close mouth before catch flies. Is that better?"

Harry shook his head as he smiled, "Luna, don't ever change."

Luna frowned slightly, "actually, I think that's exactly my problem," After that cryptic statement, she grabbed his hand. "This way."

As the blond girl dragged Harry through Hogwarts, Harry glanced at where she was holding tight to his hand, and a niggling feeling of betraying Hermione crept in '_But it's not like that - Luna's dating Collin.'_ The reassurance didn't help. He still felt guilty. Because he was enjoying holding Luna's hand, even under these innocent circumstances.

Once they were in the Room of Requirements, Luna waved "tada!"

The room looked like a dimly lit cavern, with lots of small boulders scattered around.

"Tada what? All I see is a cave."

"Oh, that. I just thought a cave would feel more homey for you. I was referring to the rocks. See that one? It's a puppy." She swished her wand as she pronounced a transfiguration, and the largish boulder turned into a slavering bear-dog.

Harry momentarily staggered back. "Wow. That's good."

Luna pointed at the floor at his feet and pronounced another spell. Harry almost fell when a huge hairy hand reached up out of the floor and daintily grabbed his shoelaces between its thumb and forefinger.

"See, both of these spells would be extremely useful in a fight." Luna twirled her wand suavely between her fingers. Before dropping it as it slipped between her third and fourth finger.

Harry picked up the wand and returned it to Luna, who looked awkward, "Um.. for the record, that looked a lot cooler in my head. I blame the nargles." she brushed some hair out of her face nervously.

Harry smiled, '_I'm sure you do.'_ But instead he said: "No, I'm impressed. That's really world class transfiguration. I can't do that."

Luna blushed slightly under the complement before pulling herself together, "Harry, you're a wizard. There is no reason that what you see and what actually is should not be one and the same. You need to stand up for yourself and stop letting the laws of physics talk smack to you. "

"Um.. Luna.. where have you been picking up Muggle slang?"

"Muggle Studies of course," Luna replied proudly. "Why, am I not using it right?"

Harry shook his head "No, it's fine." _'It's just very Luna'_." What I don't understand is why are you showing me this?"

"I was thinking that I could help with the DA. I could teach some of these advanced transfigurations."

"Umm.." Harry looked at the ground, extremely uncomfortable, "Are you certain you'll be able to get people to follow your explanations? Your way of looking at the world is rather… unique." Harry didn't mention the other reason that this idea bothered him: teaching new spells was Hermione's job. And he wasn't comfortable with Luna stepping into Hermione's role like that. It was.. He wasn't certain why, but it was wrong.

"But you always understand me." Luna beamed, "Maybe, with a little work, I can explain myself to others. It won't be easy, but I think the DA needs somebody to teach the advanced magic."

'_That __doesn't__ make it any better'. _Harry smiled wanly, "I'll.. I'll think about it. I have got to go."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry did actually have an appointment: It was his first tutoring session with Dennis. "Hey, how is it going?" Harry asked the younger student as he walked into the assigned classroom.

"Oh, about how you would expect. Summer was good, but now it's back to the daily grind." Dennis chirped. He had as much energy as Collin did back in third year, back when he was really annoying.

"Ok," Harry glanced at the notes that Flitwick had given him, "It says here that you are having some trouble with the Wingardium Leviosa spell."

"I don't see why that's such a big deal," Dennis shrugged, "I can get it to go right two times out of three. And it's not like it's that useful a spell."

Harry smiled at the denials, '_did I sound so lame when I was a third year?' _"The wand motions for the spell are used as the basis for many of the third year spells, that's why you keep revising it. And it is useful. You can use it for…" Harry wasn't certain how to explain. "Here, watch."

He cast the spell on his belt buckle. As the weak spell began to pull him upwards, he kicked off from the floor at an angle, slamming into the wall near the ceiling with an "oof".

Dennis smirked.

Then Harry pushed off the wall, hitting the floor hard with his shoulder and rolling back up to his feet. "See, you can use it to prevent injury in falls, or use it to jump higher than humanly possible. And it's really useful in a fight."

"Ok. I can see that," Dennis nodded.

"Speaking of: are you going to be joining the DA?"

"Oh, definitely. Especially if I get to leap from tall buildings!"

"Dennis" Harry said cautiously, "The Wingardium Leviosa won't turn you into Superman."

"Oh, I know. For that, I'll need several spells!"

Harry shook his head, deciding not to argue. Maybe Superman WAS a wizard.

"Not certain if Collin will be coming to the meetings, though."

Harry paused as he processed Dennis' topic changes "How come - I spoke to him last year and he said he was interested." _'Did Dennis get the hero thing from Collins not wanting to be one?'_

"Oh, he is interested, but since he and Luna broke up, it might be awkward."

"Wait, what? I didn't hear that. When did this happen?"

"A couple of days ago. Collin got annoyed with Luna's attitude."

"What? She's a little quirky, but she's a nice girl" Harry defended the blond space case.

"Not that - he said something about her following you through hell or high water, and not giving a damn about anybody else."

"I.." Harry was at a loss for words. He hadn't realized Luna's dedication, _'I thought only guys like Ron and me got so crazy obsessed with fighting Voldemort.'_ "Well, I feel bad for Collin. Tell him that he is always welcome, and we can arrange things so that he's mostly working with Terry or Neville." '_It will be nice having another person I can talk to without holding back._' The thought brought a smile to his face. But a moment later, a thought popped into his head, _'oh, god - I hope she didn't think I was hitting on her when she was showing off in the Room of Requirements.' _Honestly, Harry didn't remember doing so, but he had thought she was safe - that she was dating Collin, so he didn't have to watch what he said around her. Now he was anxiously trying to replay the half-remembered conversation.

"Um, let's get started." Harry rushed Dennis into his spell casting. He tried to concentrate on what Dennis was doing wrong, but it wasn't easy, as the guilt ate away at him. After fifteen minutes, he interrupted, "I think that's enough for now - I just needed to see what to work on. Next class I will have a curriculum" Actually, Harry just needed to get away and talk to Luna.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry was walking back to his dorm when he saw Draco fiddling with an owl by one of the windows. _'I didn't know Draco had a personal owl. I thought he said that pets were too much hassle'. _Harry walked towards the Slytherin as the blond threw the owl into the air, "Hey, Draco, aren't you a little out of your usual haunts?"

Draco looked up, startled and quickly walked off without saying anything. Harry stopped. _'Huh. I figured that without an __audience__, he would be willing to talk without having to __impress__ his friends.'_

*Hero*Hero*

The Order of the Phoenix meeting was just breaking up. Sirius was grabbing up the remaining donuts while the others filed out of 12 Grimmauld Place. Not that he needed to - the house was his after all, but old habits dies hard.

"Albus." Dumbledore turned to Kingsley Shacklebolt, "I didn't want to bring this up at the meeting, because Molly is a little overprotective, but what do you think of recruiting Potter and some of his Defense Association as junior members of the Order?"

Albus smiled benevolently, "I agree with Molly on this, Kingsley. Children should have a chance to be children. There will be plenty of time for them to be adults, and plenty left for them to do."

Kingsley sighed, "You're not wrong, but your not right. As an Auror, I've seen kids like Harry. He's going to fight whether we want him to or not. The only thing we can do is to guide him so that he avoids the worst dangers, to his life and to his humanity. And as a tactician, I say that wasting what Harry has done with the Defense Association would be a damn shame." He shook his bald head in bemusement.

"Albus, did you see what they did in the department of Mysteries last year? I spoke with some of the Order members that were the first to arrive, and I interviewed the Death Eaters we captured - Harry's group was able to hold off superior numbers of trained Death Eaters. And did you see their Loss Exchange Ratio? It's better than most trained Auror units. Now mind you, they had the element of surprise on their side, but still! Five to two is very impressive."

"Kingsley," Albus wasn't smiling anymore, "These are children you are talking about."

"No, not anymore. Not after what they have gone through. I'm not saying throw them into the front lines, but I think they can contribute to the Order. Especially Harry. He has a mind and a discipline that we can use. That we desperately need."

Albus sighed, "I will think on what you said. There may be some way I can include him more that does not involve risking his life or well being."

*Hero*Hero*

First thing the next morning, Harry went down to the Ravenclaw common room and waited. He decided that this took precedence over his usual morning workout.

And he waited.

Terry asked him if he wanted to go to breakfast "No, I got to do something." Harry pretended to be revising some notes. Terry shrugged and kept going. As he was just about to leave the common room, Padma rushed up to Harry,

"Hey, Harry, you want to go to breakfast?" Harry looked up, puzzled _'I thought she hated me?'_

"Um, no, thanks. I'll see you in class"

"Yeah, see you" Padma said loudly.

It wasn't until five minutes before first period that Luna came down the stairs from the girls dorms. She was fiddling with a radishy looking thing that sat on string between two bottlecaps.

"Hey, Luna!" Harry shot up out of his seat. "About yesterday - I just want to make sure that I didn't come across wrong or anything - I want you to know that I wasn't trying to hit on you in the Room of Requirements" As Harry said that, a felt a little niggling guilt _'Was I hitting on her? no - I just want to be friends, like we were in fourth year.' _

"I did not assume that you were." Luna interrupted Harry's confused musings, "I am dating Collin after all, and you wouldn't be crass enough to flirt with a girl who was not available. I would love to stay and chat, but somebody silenced my bed, so I overslept. I need to get to class." She walked off.

'_Still dating Collin? But Dennis said..' _Harry shrugged and ran after Luna "Hey, wait - the other girls are still playing pranks on you? I thought that stopped last year."

"I don't know that it is other girls. It could be Woofrats. Their droppings naturally muffle sounds. It helps them forage for food."

"Luna" Harry said in exasperation, "You need to find out who's doing this and deal with it."

"I AM dealing with it, Harry" she gave a Harry a bemused smile.

"No, I mean you need to confront the girls that are doing this to you."

"Why? How will that make things any better?"

"Well - you can tell them to stop. And if they don't you can take it up with Flitwick."

"And they will say no, and if I take it up with Flitwick, they will simply be angry with me for the next two years, making the situation that much worse."

"Then tell me who it is, and I will take it to Flitwick - I don't care if a bunch of people are pissed at me. It happens often enough anyways." Harry pronounced angrily.

Luna stopped and looked at Harry in the eyes. She open her mouth to say something before thinking better of it. Finally, she turned to leave the common room, "Class started two minutes ago Harry, and Potions is at the other end of the building"

Harry's eyes got big _'Shit. She's right. And I missed breakfast' _He took off running, _'Wait - how did she know I had potions first thing today? Did she get a copy of my __schedule__ or something?'_

*Hero*Hero*

"Harry, can I speak to you in my office?" Dumbledore asked.

"Ummm. sure?" Harry said warily. He had been on his way to lunch. He still hadn't had anything to eat today, and it looks like he would be missing lunch as well.

"Don't worry, You're not in any trouble. I was just considering your request from over the summer, for additional training, and I have come up with some things that I can teach you without interfering with the Hogwarts curriculum."

"Um, now?" Harry cast a longing glance back down the corridor towards the great hall.

"We will just arrange times, and then you can go back to your friends." Dumbledore lead the way up to his office. "Take a seat. Lemon drop?"

"Yes please," It wasn't food, but Harry was desperate.

"I hear that your occlumancy lessons with Professor Lupin are progressing well."

"I guess," Harry shrugged, "I can't really tell, but I've had fewer nightmares about Voldemort."

"Good, Good." After a grandfatherly nod and smile, Albus turned serious "Harry, have you ever heard of something called a Horcrux?"

"Um, no?"

"And no reason you should have. It is a Dark object created through foul rituals, which splits off a piece of the caster's soul and places it in a separate container. As long as the Horcrux exists, the rest of the soul is bound to earth, and the dark wizard who used the ritual can not die. Not permanently."

"And.. you think Voldemort did this?"

"Yes, I have reason to believe so." Dumbledore nodded grimly, "Over the summer, while looking into some things, I came across an item that I now believe was a Horcrux."

"Is that how you lost your hand?"

"Yes - it was protected with a rather nasty curse. I was able to block its spread, but not permanently, so I had Severus cut off my arm before it could spread to the rest of my body. But the arm still created a symbolic link to my soul, so we had to use fiendfire to destroy all trace of the arm in order to block the spell. It was when we were doing this that the item revealed itself as Voldemort's Horcrux - the second that I have found."

"How many did he create?" Harry asked, _'This is not fair! When I kill that bastard, I want him to stay dead!'_

"I don't know. That is what I will need your help to determine. We will be doing some research on Tom. And at the same time, I would like you to talk to Horace - he has a soft place for students that are on their way to positions of power or respect, and he feels that you fit into that category"

"Tom? and why Slughorn?" Harry realized that almost everything he had said in this conversation consisted of either monosyllabic grunts or stupid questions. But thinking on an empty stomach is harder than it looks. and talking to Albus made him defensive. He knew it wasn't rational, but he still felt betrayed that Dumbledore hadn't been there to save Hermione. And he hadn't been much use fourth year either.

"Tom Riddle - that is Voldemort's actual name. And I am certain that Horace knows something about Tom's creation of Horcruxes. I am usually very good at reading people, and he was very.. disingenuous when the topic came up."

Harry nodded as he swelled with pride. This was the first time somebody said that they actually needed him. It was an amazing feeling. And to be doing something useful in the real, adult world felt very grown up. "I'll do it!"

"Harry, please don't be disappointed if this work is slow and tedious. It is not going to be an adventure."

"That's ok, sir. I can do it."

"Very good. In that case, we will start this coming Thursday, after dinner. And Harry, I don't think I need to tell you to keep this secret from everybody else."

'_Tomorrow – Wednesday - is DA,' _Harry calculated in his head "Ok, great"

"Now go get something to eat before your next class, Harry."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry glanced at the clock - another twenty minutes until DA. He bent back over the medallion, glancing into Adam's book of runes periodically as he started to trace out the next set of runes. the ones that would not just push his awareness to the edge of normal, but give him speed beyond human to go along with it. Ron's brother had said that he should have somebody watching him as he worked, just in case, but Harry figured he could get started on his own, at least - this would take hours, and nobody wanted to spend that long sitting watching him inscribing some runes.

He'd get a spotter for when he got to the fiddly parts.

He glanced up at the clock again - five minutes till the DA was to start. Harry carefully put his rune carving equipment away and started setting up the Room of Requirements up for the class.

"Hey, Harry. Are you all set for the meeting? Is there anything I can do to help?" Harry looked up as Padma walked in.

"Yeah, that would be great! After the initial meeting, I was thinking we could split up into two groups, with the younger students covering stunning spells, while the more advanced students would get started on learning how to add transfiguration to their combat spells." Harry handed Padma a box of round wooden targets a foot across, "So can you help me set these up on the wall over here?"

"Sure!" She smiled. "So, are you going to be covering the advanced material?" She was careful not to add, 'now that Hermione is dead.'

"No, I, ah actually I'm not very good at transfiguration. Luna's going to handle it."

"LUNA?" Padma stopped, stunned, "but.."

"She's one of the brightest witches I know" Harry admonished sternly.

"I don't know about that, but what I do know is that everything she says is utter balderdash!"

"No, it's not" Harry scowled, "It makes sense, it's just hard for her to put her ideas into words. I'll be working with her, and so it should be no problem"

"Oh, and you're an expert on translating from Luna-tic to human." Padma stormed off to the far side of the room to start setting up the targets

'_What's her problem?'_ Harry scowled, _'is she one of the girls that's bothering Luna?'_

As more students filed in, Harry got busy welcoming them and helping them get sorted out. Soon the room was full - there were more students here than last year. Collin WAS present, Harry was happy to see, but he kept to the back of the room, away from Luna.

"Ok, I'm glad to see so many of you came, even though we have a decent Defense teacher this year. I know you all have different reasons for being here, but hopefully the Defense Association will provide something for all of you. For the beginning students, we will be working on basics - stunners, protegos and spell chains. But for the more advanced students, we have a treat" Harry turned to the side "Luna, care to give us a demonstration?"

As Luna stepped forward, Harry almost choked. The normally casually dressed, even sloppy, girl was dressed in formal robes, and had her hair wound tight into a bun at the back of her head. It should have looked severe and formal, but somehow, she couldn't quite make it work - instead it looked like she was wearing a halo woven out of hair.. _'Is she trying to look like Hermione?' _Harry was annoyed.

"Ok, class. Today I am going to skip over all the boring stuff that we will have to do the first few weeks and show you what the goal is - partial transfiguration!" She swished her wand and incanted "Transfiguro" at a patch of floor. Nothing happened. She frowned and examined her wand, looking down the tip and giving it an experimental shake. There were a few titters from the onlookers.

Another swish, again, nothing. A panicky look started to spread on Luna's face.

Harry stepped up to her side and whispered, "I blame the Nargles."

Luna glanced at him and smiled. "Nargles?" She turned back to the patch of floor.

Swish. "Transfiguro."

A hand reached up out of the floor , it's palm open. Luna daintily minced over and sat down on the open palm. Only Harry could see how hard her hands were shaking. "As you can see, a partial transfiguration can be cast on an item that is FAR too big to transfigure in totality. It increases your opportunities to cast transfiguration. The problem is how to keep your spell where you want it, instead of attempting to fill the whole object, like it normally does. And that takes a certain frame of mind. It will be easier to reach that state for some of you than to others, but I am certain I can sculpt all of your minds to perceive reality in the correct fashion."

Several of the Hufflepuffs shifted uncomfortably. They weren't certain that they wanted to have Luna remake them in her image.

"Ok, so let's break up into groups and try some spells!" Harry interrupted the group before the silence got awkward. "New students, and those who were in the beginner group last year, go over to Neville - he's going to go over a targeting game with you. The advanced students will all stay here and try the partial transfiguration."

"Are we going to have any applied dueling this year?" This was Ernie MacMillan.

"Oh, yes! I'll start that going next time we meet."

*Hero*Hero*

"Harry, I'm having a small get together for some of the students in my quarters this evening. It will be a casual affair, just some tea and cookies, so that we can all get to know each other." Slughorn had invited Harry over as the other students had mostly left the Potions class. It was mid October, so in theory Horace knew everybody.

_'Tea and cookies?'_ Harry wasn't excited by the prospect. But he remembered Dumbledore's request to get to know Slughorn, so he faked a smile, "Sure, I'll be there!"

"Great. I will see you there, my boy."

As Harry turned to go, he almost bumped into Padma. "Oh, I'll be there too, so we can go together."

'_Oh, joy.' _"Sure, we can walk down." Harry continued with the same fake smile. "But I have some stuff I need to do first."

Harry quickly made his way to the Room of Requirements. He had been planning to spend the evening working on his rune engraving, but there was still time to get a little work in if he stated right away.

But the Room of Requirements wouldn't open. He tried three times before giving up. _'I don't really need it.' _Instead he went to one of the classrooms on the third floor.

He laid out his rune inscribing equipment. To warm up, he pulled out several of the runic blanks and drew basic Dark Creature wards on them - the sort that most wizards had on their houses to repel cornish pixies and other pests. The wards would affect even Werewolves and Vampires, but only if they actually touched them. After a half dozen flawless runes, Harry pulled out Adam Loew's book, '_Runes aren't that hard.'_ Harry started tracing the last of the runes, _'well, cook-book runes, at least. I couldn't actually come up with my own designs, the way Bill Weasley does.'_ Harry pulled out a small chisel and started going over the painted lines, engraving them into the metal. _'But just drawing them, that's not hard.'_

Harry slowly incised the runes. It was slow work, as the medallion was small, and he had to work around the runes that he had already put in before. He was so engrossed, that he quickly lost track of time.

As Harry was almost done, he realized that something was wrong.

He was getting light headed and short of breath. He pushed away from the desk. As he tried to stand up, he wobbled and almost fell down.

When Harry came to his senses, he was lying on the floor, barely able to breath. '_Oh, shit. I screwed up the runes. Don't panic.' _He tried to stretch out and take long deep breaths, but even still, he was barely able to get enough air.

Harry tried to stand again, and his head swam, and he collapsed back down.

Harry lay there and built up his strength. He turned his head, and flashes of color swam before his eyes.

He passed out for a moment, before regaining consciousness. With all his might, he pushed himself up to his feet.

'_Next time, I won't work on them by myself.'_ Harry refused to consider that there might not be a next time. He staggered to the door, yelling for help. but his voice was a croak. Besides, this corridor was rarely used, and most students were still at dinner.

Harry scrabbled at the doorknob - his hands felt like he was wearing oven mitts, and he couldn't get them to work right. His vision kept fading in and out. He tried to bend over to grasp the knob with both hands but as he pulled the door open he found himself on his knees.

'_This is not good.' _

Everything faded to black.

The END


	4. Chapter 3

"Harry! Harry!" somebody was calling his name, but he couldn't see who it was for some reason: there were too many colors. Or maybe it was all black.

"Harry!" Hermione was calling as she held him and the world spun. "Don't you dare die on me!"

"Hermione?" he tried to concentrate - he remembered that there was something important he was doing. Or maybe he had to say something? But he couldn't recall what. Maybe Hermione would know. It would be nice to see Hermione again.

* * *

><p>Je suis charlie<p> 


	5. Chapter 4

START

When Harry finally woke up, he was in Madam Pomfrey office,"Wha.." He groaned. His head hurt terribly, and his chest was still short of breath.

"Oh, good you are awake. You came very close to dying, young man" The school nurse turned to frown at him. "If miss Lovegood hadn't found you when she did, you would have suffocated. When you have recovered some, I believe your Head of House wants to have some words with you."

Harry nodded mutely and fell back asleep.

*Hero*Hero*

"You missed my little get together." Horace Slughorn said as he came in. It was a bright, warm fall morning, of the sort you don't get many of in Scotland. Harry was sitting propped up in the bed, an empty breakfast tray pushed off to one side, as he watched students hanging out by the lake.

"I'm sorry, sir. I really had wanted to go, but then I had my accident." Harry really was sorry to have missed the meeting. Not because of the lost networking opportunity, but because he remembered Dumbledore's request.

"Not to worry, my boy, not to worry. I understand how these things happen. Independent work like that is a hallmark of future greatness, after all." Horace patted Harry's shoulder as he took a seat on a bedside chair, "But you should work with a buddy next time. Unless you were doing something secret. You weren't working on anything like that, were you?" Horace asked casually, obviously hoping for a juicy tidbit.

"What, like a Horcrux?" Harry asked.

"NO, No! I would never suspect something like that" Horace stood up and waved his hands agitatedly, "where did you even hear the term?" He glanced around, but the room was otherwise empty, and the usual privacy charms on the nurses office were running.

"Dumbledore mentioned that Lord Voldemort used one to keep from dying when the Killing Curse rebounded off of me, back fifteen years ago." Harry pointed to his scar, "He only has one, right? Or can a wizard make more than that?'

Horace looked around nervously, "Oh, I don't know. He could have any number. We shouldn't talk of such foul things. They are really not appropriate conversational topics." He looked like he would run away any moment, so Harry had to ask quickly if he was going to extract any useful information for Dumbledore. He wracked his brain feverishly.

"He has three of them, doesn't he?" Harry asked quietly. He remembered his Foreign Runes class from fourth year – three was a magically powerful number.

"I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know." Horace stood up and brushed off his robes, "but if I had to guess, I would say seven." and he quickly fled.

*Hero*Hero*

It was the following day when Flitwick came by. "How are you feeling, Harry?"

"Better. Thank you." In actuality, Harry felt back to normal, but Madam Pomfrey had insisted that he stay until dinner time.

"Good, I am glad to hear that." Flitwick took a deep breath, as if stealing himself to face an unpleasant task, "Harry, what possessed you to work with such dangerous runes? Especially on your own?"

"I got the book as a present. Prof Loew DID warn me not to work on the more advanced runes until he had a chance to teach them to me, but he's been too busy. So I decided to do them on my own. I guess that wasn't the smartest choice." Harry shrugged apologetically.

"No, it was not. I am going to have to confiscate the book." Filius held up a hand to forestall Harry's protests, "You will get it back when you graduate from Hogwarts, Harry. It is extremely dangerous magic, and not appropriate for a minor. I am not going to assign detention because I think you have learned your lesson already, but if I catch you doing anything like this again, I will do so. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," Harry nodded glumly, "What about the medallion?"

"I had to destroy the medallion to break the spell. I am sorry, I know you put a lot of work into it, but that was the only way."

Harry let out a sigh of relief at Flitwick use of the singular 'it'. '_So he didn't find the rest of the set. I can duplicate from the other side.'_ The destroyed medallion had been for the left arm, so Harry felt he could duplicate the Awareness runes that he had first inscribed into it from the right side charm. That was fairly basic. But the speed charm was not going to happen, at least for now.

"Ok, that is all, Madam Pomfrey said you can go once I was done speaking with you. Your classmates are all at dinner now"

Harry nodded and set to putting on his socks and shoes as the tiny professor made his way out the door.

*Hero*Hero*

"Luna!' Harry called out as he saw the slightly spacey girl making her way towards the Ravenclaw common room. Harry had been planning to stop off to get a change of clothes before going down to dinner. "I just want to thank.."

He started, but was interrupted as Luna smoothly walked up to him and pulled him into a fierce hug, burying her head in his chest. After a moment, she relaxed, "In the future, if you are going to do something foolish and extremely dangerous, please let me know ahead of time, so that I can floo St. Mungos."

As she let go of him, Harry smiled as a memory of fourth year popped into his brain._ 'When she's not confusing the the heck out of me, she's actually very sweet.'_ Of course, it was still too soon after Hermione's death for him to consider dating anybody. Which is why he was mildly surprised to find himself asking, "Um, Luna, would you like to go out with me?"

Luna gave him a mock scandalized look, "what sort of woman do you take me for? Harry - I am sorry, but I am dating Collin."

Harry opened his mouth, and then shut it, before scratching the back of his head, "Not according to Collin you're not." He finally replied. "And how is it that you always seem to know where I am or where I am going?"

"No, we're still dating. It's called 'passive dating'" Luna ignored the second half of Harry's statement.

"What's that?" Harry was pretty certain she was making stuff up. _'Is she scared of getting into another relationship?'_

"It's the way we dated," she pointed at Harry and herself, "back two years ago." Luna turned and walked off quickly.

'_We just went out a couple of times, that's not really dating,' _Harry sighed and shook his head. "Hey, Luna wait up – are you going to dinner?"

"I just came from dinner." Lune replied, but before Harry could say anything, she quickly added, "But I'll come with with you."

"Ok, great" Harry smiled wanly, '_I SO don't understand girls. Or maybe it's just Luna. Hermione was very straightforward. Bossy, but not complicated.' _"Um, Luna, will you be able to teach the transfiguration charms at the next DA like we discussed?"

Luna looked down at her hands as she fiddled with her robes, "I.. no. I can't. I'm not Hermione. I can't.. I almost died just doing that quick demo."

"No, that was me" Harry quipped, "But seriously, I don't want you to be Hermione. That would be very, very wrong, for so many reasons." Harry paused and took a deep breath to pull himself back together. "How about we work together before the next DA session. You teach me, and then I will explain the basics to the class as best as I can, and you can correct me when I say something stupid. Afterwards, you can wander around and help students one on one."

Luna's face broke into a radiant smile. "I would like that. I would like that very much. Come on!"

"Luna! I haven't eaten!"

"Neither have I, but that's ok!"

Harry put his foot down. "After dinner. Seriously, I won't be able to think straight unless I get some food."

Luna sighed, "Boys".

*Hero*Hero*

"You missed the meeting of the slug club" Padma commented as Harry sat down for dinner. Luna made a point of taking the only open seat next to Harry.

"Not on purpose. Did anything interesting happen?"

"Not too much, mostly Sluggy – Professor Slughorn wants us to call him Sluggy outside of class – told funny stories about some of the previous members, most of whom have gone on to become well known wizards and witches." Padma turned to Luna as if just noticing her, "Oh, hey, Luna. Were you invited to the Slug club too?"

"No, I am too much 'salt of the earth' - It would not end well." Luna replied as she picked at her radish souffle.

Harry leaned over to Luna and quietly volunteered "I can ask if you can come with me, next time."

Luna stabbed a radish with her knife and offered it to Harry, "I find I don't have a stomach for bitter things."

"Was that a no?" Harry asked, taking the radish with a frown.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"No."

Padma rolled her eyes and walked off.

*Hero*Hero*

*Thup*

*Thup*

*Thup*

*Thup*

Harry didn't like working the heavy bag. It was boring, and after a couple of minutes, his hands hurt _'How could I have actually gone and done that?'_

*Thup*

*Thup*

*Thup*

But sometimes it was useful. It let him work off his anger and confusion, and the pain helped too. _'Asking Luna out? Thank Merlin she shot me down.' _The following morning, Harry had woken up consumed by guilt over how much he had enjoyed hanging out with Luna. It felt like he was betraying Hermione. _'It's only been half a year. Am I that shallow?'_

And self hatred. Lets not forget the self hatred.

Breakfast was almost over when Harry finally called it quits. His hands hurt, but he was feeling much better. '_I wasn't asking her out on a boyfriend/girlfriend date. She's one of my oldest friends, like Neville. There's nothing wrong about wanting to spend time with one of your best friends.'_

Harry was more relaxed than he had been for a long time as he got back into his school robes._ 'And it probably won't go any further than that. My relationship with Luna is nothing like my relationship with Hermione.' _And with that problem resolved, he headed up to breakfast.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry knocked on the Headmasters door

"Come in, Harry."

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Harry came in to find Dumbledore talking to Sirius Black. The latter's face split into a huge grin as Harry came in.

"Harry, how are you doing? I haven't seen you in the flesh in too long! Honestly, I haven't seen anybody in the flesh in too long. I've been cooped up in my family dungeon for almost a year." Before Harry could ask about that statement, Sirius continued, "It's not actually a dungeon, it's my family's townhouse, but it feels like a dungeon, and Kreacher, the House Elf, is the warden. Ha! I guess I'm coming up in the world – better a House Elf than a Dementor!"

Albus smiled in a paternal fashion, "Yes, yes. Well now, we will all get some fresh air." He turned to Harry, "My research has shown me where Voldemort may have hidden another of his Horcruxes. The three of us are going to go and see if we can find it."

As Albus walked out of his office, Sirius put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "About Hermione – how are you holding up? Being back in Hogwarts... is it bringing up stuff? If it is, you should talk. I'll listen." Sirius fidgeted awkwardly before finishing with, "I'm better at that than talking."

Harry smiled, glancing at his bruised knuckles. "I'm doing ok."

Albus unlocked a small door at the top of the stairs outside his office. "This way – we need to go outside so that the portkey can penetrate the Hogwarts wards."

"You can portkey from the school grounds?" Harry asked, surprised.

"You can if you are the headmaster." He led the trio up the stairs to the tower roof.

"Headmaster, would you be willing to make me a port key like that, for emergencies?" Harry asked.

"I am not certain that is a good idea, Harry. There is a reason that Hogwarts has wards to prevent magical travel."

"How about if it only works if blood gets on it? That way, I can portkey to safety if I get injured."

Albus considered that for a few moment: it was still a bad idea, but Harry did have a penchant for finding himself in danger. "Very well. Do you have anything that you can carry easily?"

Harry pulled out one of his runic stones – he always had some in his pockets. Some were finished into wards (mostly dark creature wards), some were still blank.

Albus took hold of it for a moment and tapped it with his wand. "Keep that somewhere safe, Harry"

Harry nodded, slipping it onto his necklace next to his Awareness rune.

Albus eyes the necklace. "What is this I hear about you dabbling with wind runes, Harry? I wasn't aware that you were that far long in Prof. Babbling's class." Sirius perked up, always curious to learn more of Harry's life.

"We're not. I was just doing that independently. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I was following a book that Professor Loew gave me. But he said not to try the more advanced runes until he had a chance to explain them to me, but I guess I didn't want to wait."

"Harry, you need to take more care. You could have died if miss Lovegood hadn't found you in time." Albus pulled out a piece of twine and handed one end to the other two wizards.

"I know, I know" Harry replied exasperated, "Professor Flitwick already gave me this lecture!" Harry's last word got stretched out as he felt himself grabbed by the navel and flung through the air, before landing, spinning through the air, onto an empty heath.

"Where are we?"

"A place that holds meaning for Tom Riddle." Albus replied as he surveyed the empty landscape, "I have discovered that his orphanage went on a field trip to this sea shore when he ten, shortly before he received his Hogwarts letter. And something happened. I can not determine what, but it was something horrible, and yet there is no record of it. It seems like the handiwork of a nascent lord Voldemort"

"And you think he hid a Horcrux here?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. The first Horcrux I found was hidden in his mother's family home, a place where his uncle murdered his father, possibly in Tom's presence. So this place seems to meet the same criteria. We should search slowly. Stay within eyesight of each other."

"What are we looking for? Did Voldemort just bury his Horcrux?"

"Unlikely. His pride would not allow that. He would likely have put it into some sort of structure."

"Well, then, that should make it pretty easy. There's nothing here. Lets go home" snarked Sirius. Despite that he he set off at an easy pace, scanning the ground around him. "Watch your footing – there are a lot of rabbit holes around here."

Harry started searching, walking slowly in the same direction as Sirius. Dumbledore meanwhile went up to the crest of a ridge.

"So, how's school, Harry? Keeping your grades up?" Sirius asked as he walked.

"Yeah, I'm doing ok. I haven't had much time to practice my martial arts, though with everything. I am still running the DA, and there's a lot to do as we figure out what to do this year."

"Who's we?"

"Neville, Ron, Terry, Luna and me, I guess. We're the core of the group, though Ron doesn't really do much of the planning – that's mostly Neville and me. Ron's more of a 'hit them', and then 'hit them some more' sort. Terry does help out also, he's pretty smart, but he's taking so many advanced classes that I wouldn't be surprised if he was secretly using a time-turner to get enough time to do all his homework."

"Don't joke about that – a student in the year ahead of me was suspended for trying exactly that." Sirius stopped and poked at something on the ground. Harry came over to take a look, but it was just a candy bar wrapper. "Litter. Even here." He stood back up and stretched, "Do you know, Kingsley – he's that Auror I mentioned - still won't stop talking about how impressed he was with your group? If you want to apply for Auror School, I think you will be a shoo in." Sirius turned to glare sternly to Harry, "But don't go dropping out or anything – finish Hogwarts first!"

Harry frowned ,"I wasn't planning on dropping out."

"Good, good. Because I couldn't handle it if you did. Molly's already going on all the time about the twins dropping out. They have a promising career, Fred's in Cornwall looking into setting up a potions workshop and all, but still! Every time anybody mentions anything about the twins, Molly lets 'er rip with a tirade about how they would be doing so much better if they had finished their schooling. I can't take it. I just can't."

Harry patted his godfather's shoulder "There. There. Want a hanky?"

"No, I'm good" Sirius replied, then paused, "Wait, were you mocking me?"

"Oh, hey – what's that down there?" Harry quickly replied, pointing to a cleft in the ground. A sulfurous smell was rising from it. When Harry peered in, he couldn't see the ground.

"Albus!" Sirius waved, and the older wizard, who was a small figure in the distance, waved back. "So, any girls in your life?"

"Not really," the response was automatic. But then Harry paused, and added tentatively, "Well, Luna and I have gotten to be really good friends. She's… She's a free spirit, I guess is the best way to describe her. She does what makes sense to her. Some of the other students think she's crazy, but she's not." Harry spoke vehemently, "If you think about what she says, it all makes sense, it's just you have to think about it."

"Sounds like a good girl. So ask her out." Not the most tactful thing to say, all things considered, but hey, it's Sirius.

Harry scratched the back of his head, "I don't think she wants a commitment." _'And I'm not ready to get back into dating just yet.'_

"Excellent! That's the best sort!" Sirius approved. But before Harry could correct his godfather's misperception, Dumbledore walked up, "What have you gentlemen found?"

After peering in, Dumbledore walked around the eight foot wide pit, muttering and gesturing with his wand. "It does appear that there is something of a magical nature here. I am not certain if it's a spell or just naturally occurring – this area is known for some wild magic. I don't see any way to safely get down to the bottom, so let's mark this area for future investigation and keep going.

"Couldn't you apparate down?" Harry asked

"Possibly, but if there any active wards down at the bottom, that might not be such a good idea." Dumbledore turned away from the pit, " Lets keep searching."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry looked around the classroom – there was a good turn out for the DA. A very good turn out. Except for one thing. Luna wasn't here. _'How the hell am I supposed to teach transfiguration on my own? There's is no way.'_ Harry was still tired from the walking on the moors yesterday, and he certainly hadn't had time to plan anything fancy. "I think we're going to change things up a little. Since there are a lot of new faces this year, instead of jumping right into transfiguration, we will pair off and do some light dulling, as a way to get to know each other better."

As the students paired off Neville came over, "dude, seriously? Dueling as a way to get to know each other?"

"Hey, it works, and I can't teach what I planned. Luna's supposed to be here to do the demonstrations. I can explain the basics, but she's the expert, I'm not certain if I will get everything right."

"Well, figure it out fast – you can't do dueling for the whole class."

Harry nodded fatalistically. Which is why fifteen minutes later, he was lecturing on the principals of partial transfiguration, "You need to visualize part of the thing as the whole." He turned to face the brick wall that he and Neville had painstakingly transfigured into place earlier. "For instance, I see that brick not as part of the wall, but as a separate entity that just happens to be attached to the wall. Harry was sweating bullets, but he kept smiling, hoping the other students wouldn't notice.

"Transfiguro!" The brick turned into a loaf of bread.'_Thank Merlin.'_

"I want you to do that. Once you have that mastered, we'll start on partial transfiguration of a smooth plaster wall." Harry was still anxious for the class to be over, but at least it looked like nobody had realized that he didn't have a bloody clue as to what he was doing.

After a quarter hour of transfiguration practice, Harry called the advanced students together while Neville and Terry took the rest. "Ok, I want you to get into two groups of three. We're going to practice fighting as a team. My team will be on defense, Ron's will be on offense, and then we will switch off"

*Hero*Hero*

"Sue-li – is Luna up in the girls rooms?" Harry asked. He had run out of the DA as soon as the class was over. Luna probably just forgot, but what if something had happened to her...

"No, nobody up there right now"

Harry heart started to beat faster, He looked around anxiously, hoping that somehow he had missed her and she was actually sitting in the common room, but no. '_There's her sneaker holding down her notes – she never leaves that out for long.'_ He ran over to a third year, "Have you seen Luna lately?"

"No, sorry" he shook his head.

Harry was starting to panic. His minds eye kept seeing Luna lying somewhere, blood spurting from her chest.

"Is she the blond girl?" asked a second year boy that Harry didn't know.

"Yeah, and she was wearing a red summer dress today." Harry added.

"Yeah, I saw her heading up to the roof of the tower. She's weird."

Harry glared at the boy, "No, she just sees things that you don't."

"Yeah, that's what crazy means," countered the annoying brat. Harry decided he didn't have the time to teach the pip-squeak manners and darted out of the Ravenclaw dorms. The Ravenclaw tower did have a small roof, but because it was so high it was very windy, and thus rarely used by the students or staff. Harry ran up to the the door at the end of the corridor and then up the ladder to the trap door leading out to the top of the tower.

There, sitting huddled under a blanket as she stared at the stars was Luna. Harry ran over.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked, out of breath.

She nodded without looking at him. "I was trying to see if I could spot any Heliopaths. I've started a project to try to find some for Daddy's paper."

Harry sat down next to Luna. Luna had her arms wrapped around her knees and she was looking out into the distance.

"Didn't you tell me once that Heliopaths only come out when the sun is up?"

Luna nodded, "Yeah, but I didn't think you were listening."

Harry looked at the blond girl. She looked very small and oddly vulnerable, "Luna, I always listen to you. I just don't always agree with your ideas."

"Good to know. I don't always agree with you either. Especially when you almost get yourself killed carelessly scribing runes." she replied.

"That wasn't on purpose" Harry sighed. He sat down next to her and tentatively put his arm on her back. This girl had messed up his plans, and made havoc of his life. By all rights, he should be very angry with her. But how could he get upset with Luna? She was always trying to help, like with the dress robes and the second task back in fourth year. And going to the Ministry with him last year. Sometimes it didn't work out, but she was one of the few people who he didn't need to ask, she just volunteered. He trusted her to be there for him, and if she wasn't, then obviously there was a good reason for it. "Luna, How come you didn't show up to the DA meeting. Did you forget?"

"No. I..I just got really scared. I started thinking about teaching, and I… I guess I panicked. Next thing, I was up here, looking for Heliopaths" She turned to give Harry a serious look, "Yes, I know it's the wrong time of day for it, but I really DO have a project to find them. And.. And I knew I was supposed to come down and help with the DA, but I just couldn't get up," She finished in a small voice.

Harry slipped his arm all the way around her shoulders and tried to project comfort, "If you can't teach, that's ok. You don't have to. But please come - I miss having you there. You're one of the best dualists in the group."

"Oh. ok."

Harry took a deep breath, "And I miss having you there because I like being with you."

Luna looked at Harry and smiled, "That was sweet. If I wasn't dating Collin.."

Harry gave an exasperated sigh and stood up, "I'll see you around." And went down the ladder.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry scribbled intently as he copied down everything Professor Babbling wrote on the blackboard "Eihwaz is connected to to the Norse concept of the World Tree, and with this rune, you can add the meaning for tree or it can be used to add strength, or phonetically, to be 'ea'." The small witch lectured at full speed. Knowledge spraying out of her like water from a broken firehose.

All the students were silent, trying to keep up.

"Any questions?" Finally, Harry took a breath, as several tentative hands went up, and a discussion began. _'There is NO way I'm going to to be able to customize the Runes that Prof. Loew showed me.' _Harry was beginning to realize how broad a topic Runes really was, and how little of it he knew,_ 'Maybe I should wait to do the rest of the engraving until I can have Bill or somebody spot me, to make sure I don't screw up.'_ That was assuming he could talk Prof Flitwick into giving him back the book for the summer.

Harry again mused at how easy prof. Loew had made it seem, _'I guess when you are good at something, you forget how hard it is for a beginner.'_

*Hero*Hero*

"So, I hear that you are dating Luna again," Neville said as he and Harry walked to the Room of Requirements.

"No, we're not." Harry shook his head.

"Is this like back in fourth year, when you were 'not dating' Luna?"

"No, back then Luna was making it clear she wanted to be dating, but I was too dense to realize it." Harry stretched the truth a trifle. _'More like I was too embarrassed to be seen with her. Which really is pretty stupid. Will my avoiding Luna somehow magically make me mister popular?_' Harry had come to accept his (presumed) status of outcast."Now, it's like it's the other way around. We hang out a lot, so I figured I'd ask her out. As just a friend, you understand." Harry added quickly. Neville resisted the urge to smirk. "And she shot me down."

"Yet you still hang out with the crazy girl, instead of asking out Padma." Neville pointed out.

"Padma is scary. Last year, she hated me, this year, she wants to go out. And she reminds me of Hermione a little.. I guess I'm pathetic or something, huh?"

Neville shrugged, "I got nothing. You're in uncharted waters now, Harry."

"Shit!" Harry swore "That's the second time this week!" he sighed in exasperation as the Room of Requirements wouldn't appear. They were supposed to have a DA session in a half hour, and they had no classroom!

"Harry – we're not an illegal club anymore. We can use any classroom we want" Neville pulled out his enchanted Sickle . "Lets go use the old Beauxbatons common room from fourth year. The space expansion charms on it are still active. I'll message the other DA members."

Harry nodded, "I guess that will work. But I'm going to hang out here to give directions – a lot of our newer members don't have the charmed Sickles." _'And besides, maybe I can see who's in the Room.'_

*Hero*Hero*

It was a couple of weeks later that Dumbledore asked Harry to come with him and Sirius for another search "It occurs to me that we never did a very thorough search of the Riddle Mansion – that is Tom's fathers house. Now Tom did not care for his father, but he committed several atrocities there, not least of which was plotting his return and he might have started the ritual that he cast in the Little Hangleton Graveyard up at the mansion, so it is worth going over more thoroughly.." Dumbledore finished playing with the coat hanger that he had been holding. It was now (almost) straightened, except for a couple of large bends. "Here, lets step outside and take hold of this."

The portkey whisked them out to the front of a largish mansion. The grass around it was overgrown, and the leaves had not been raked in some time. "I don't think there's anybody here" Sirius said, craning his neck to see if they were anywhere near civilization. "And why does Voldemort like to hang out in these depressing sorts of places?"

"It's VOLDEMORT. Where else would he hang out? The arcade?" Harry interrupted before Dumbledore could give a more pedantic answer.

"I feel like the cheap date - I got to go to all the loser places that the stingy wanker likes to hang out at," Sirius grumbled.

"Hmm. Yes, but since you are technically a fugitive, if Tom was more fond of heavily populated places, we would not be able to invite you out on our little 'dates'," Dumbledore replied, a slight upward curl to his lips.

"Lets get inside and see what we find," Harry started for the mansion when Dumbledore quickly bustled up to him.

"Harry, this is a muggle property, but I think it would still be prudent to check for wards.

Harry colored "Um. Yeah," he mumbled.

The Riddle Mansion had clearly not been inhabited in a long time. There was dust everywhere. As the trio entered the front foyer, Harry flicked on the lights.

Nothing happened. "There is no electricity, Harry. Even I know that." Sirius cast a light spell. The furniture was draped in sheets, like somebody had put the house into storage. But even the sheets were covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Let's try this way" Dumbledore led the trio over to the the sitting room. Here, the dust was thinner, and the sheets had all been pulled off and flung into a corner. "This must be where Voldemort and the fake Moody were staying." Harry knelt down by the fireplace and picked at the ashes.

"I'll take a look over here. It looks like the library was also used" Dumbledore walked into the next room over.

"If this is Albus' idea of a 'night out on the town', no wonder he never got married," Sirius groused as he looked through the knickknacks on the corner shelf. He checked each one for magic before touching it.

"I mean, I've been locked up that decaying old house for almost a year now, and his idea of letting me go 'get a constitutional', as he put it, is to take me to another old decaying house" Sirius peered into the end of the rather ornate calabash pipe.

"So give me a portkey and we'll hit the arcade after we're done here." Harry replied, pulling open the ash grate.

"Yeah?" Sirius' eyes lit up.

"Yeah." Harry walked over to the corridor leading to the kitchen, '_Why do I feel like the older brother here?_' "Hey, Sirius, you know that you can ditch and sneak out to the movies or something sometimes - I bet no pureblood wizard goes to the cinema."

Sirius nodded like the idea had never occurred to him, "Yeah. I guess I could. I guess I just got so used to just sitting around at Azkaban, I forgot how to do stuff like that."

'_Like what? Think for yourself?' _But Harry didn't say it, for fear that it was true. "Hey, there's a passageway here!" Harry called out. Between the sitting room and the short corridor leading to the kitchen was a nook just wide enough for a person to enter, and when Harry peered in, he saw that it went around a corner and continued on parallel to the corridor.

Sirius came up behind him, "It looks like a servants corridor. These old houses had them. It probably goes to the back of the house, or maybe to stairs leading up to the attic – that's where all the respectable families crammed their human servants." Sirius raised up his light so that it shone down over Harry's head to illuminate the passageway.

"Please wait, Harry," Albus called out as he bustled towards them.

Harry started forward. "There's nothing here. Whoop – careful – it widens into a stair going dooowown!" Harry yelped as he slid back into a defensive crouch, pulling away from the hand that had grabbed at his shoulder.

"There's somebody here!" called Sirius as he tried to see over Harry.


	6. Chapter 5

There's somebody here!" called Sirius as he tried to see over Harry. They were exploring the Riddle Mansion, looking for more potential Horcruxes when they stumbled across someone hiding in the servant's corridor.

"Move out of the way, Sirius" Dumbledore drew his wand.

"I got this!" Sirius tried to get a clear line on the person in front of Harry without crowding the teenager.

Harry snapped a kick at the short hunched figure in front of him, landing a solid blow to the shin and then stepped in with a jab to the solar plexus as the man staggered in pain.

Except he didn't.

The figure acted as if the kick was just a light tap, grabbing Harry's head with one hand and leaning in to bite Harry. A fetid odor emanated from the creatures' rotting face.

Harry whirled under the arm, stepping back into the monster and threw his hips back, butt-checking the monster as he pulled on it's arm. The creature went flying over Harry's head, narrowly scraping under the ceiling before hitting the floor in front of Sirius with a wet thud.

"It's an Inferni!" Sirius yelled "Reducto. Reducto." His targeted spells shattered the monster's legs, but it continued reaching for him. "We need to use fire on it, but the whole house will go up if we do!"

"Incarcerous." Harry bound the zombie in ropes as he crouched sideways, so he could watch for any more of the horrors coming up behind him "Now pull it out!"

Sirius managed to wrestle the spell resistant cadaver out of the passageway. As Harry waited, trapped on the wrong side of the zombie, he crouched with his wand pointing into the dark unknown even as his eyes kept swinging back to check on Sirius' progress.

Finally, he was free.

"I think that was the groundskeeper," Dumbledore pronounced, bending over the writhing cadaver.

"I don't care who it was. Destroy it!" Harry's voice was shrill, but at this point, he didn't really care.

The three wizards took the dead groundskeeper out to the front yard, and Dumbledore reduced him to ash with a blue flame that gave off almost no light.

"In the future, please let me go first" Albus gently rebuked the other two.

"Be my guest." Harry bowed and swept his hand toward the mansion, like the doorman in a fancy hotel, from some half-remembered movie.

Albus lead the trio back down the passageway. "Hmm. There are also some wards here, but nothing too powerful I can disable them without letting the caster know." Sirius and Harry waited nervously while Albus worked. "Done!" he led the way down into the wine cellar. It was a small room, with several dusty racks of wine and a stack of tins of beans and pork. There was also several bed rolls and potions equipment.

"This appears to have been set up as a safe house, but given that all the supplies are still present, neatly stacked, it doesn't appear to have been used."

A further search of the area did not reveal anything else of interest.

"Well, I am not certain what we gained today" Albus sighed. "I will add a warning glyph to the ward, so that I will know if anybody else enters this safe house, but chances are any Death Eaters that come here will be very cautious when they notice the missing guard."

"I think you're giving them too much credit – they aren't deep thinkers" Sirius replied.

"Don't underestimate Voldemort's inner circle. There are some canny wizards and witches there. Though you are right, we might net a few recent Death Eaters with this stratagem."

Dumbledore sighed. "I have a few other places I want to check, but they are small, so I will do those on my own. In the meantime, lets return to school."

As Dumbledore started fiddling with an old shoelace, Sirius slipped Harry a ten pound note. "Don't spend it – it's a portkey" He whispered.

Harry smiled. "Same place?"

"Same place. Hopefully this time we'll actually get to use it as planned."

Harry's smile dissolved. "Yeah."

*****Hero*****Hero*

Harry stood and stretched out – he had strained his back throwing that Inferni. After a moment, he sat back down _'This potions homework isn't going to write itself.' _He was working at one of the tables in the Ravenclaw common room, trying to get a jump on his work so that he could take time tomorrow to re-do the destroyed rune for his left arm. Just them, a mug appeared in front of him "Here."

Harry looked up. Luna pushed the mug over and sat down next to him. "Hey, are you getting enough sleep?" Harry asked. Luna looked faded, somehow.

Luna ignored the question, instead leaning over Harry's shoulder, "You know, it would save you time if you took notes directly in the text book. That way you don't have to waste time copying the section of text over into your notebook when you wanted to comment on it."

"But, that will destroy the text book."

"No it won't," scoffed Luna, "It will add value. At least in your Potions notebook. Now if you did that in Transfiguration, well, that might not be so good."

"Hey!" Harry poked Luna, but she had decided that she wasn't ticklish today, so that did no good, except getting a disapprove 'shush' form Simon at the next table over.

"Here, I can show you how." she pulled out her text book.

"Luna, I know how to take notes," Harry replied exasperatedly.

"Yes, but do you know when to draw the cute little hearts on your 'i's?

"Um, boys don't do that," Harry sighed.

"Vincent does."

Harry's mouth dropped open, "Crabbe?"" His imagination just couldn't process that image. "Wait when have you looked at his notes?"

"When he was making googly eyes at Draco during quidditch last year."

"Seriously?" Harry was at a loss for words, "Does Draco know about this?"

"I doubt it. Otherwise he would have dealt with the situation in a typical Pure-Blood fashion."

"What? You mean marry Crabbe?"

"No, though if he reciprocated his affections, the appropriate Pure-Blood response would be for Draco to arrange a marriage between Vincent and his sister."

"Wait, what? Draco doesn't have a sister." Harry was getting confused. What did Draco's (hypothetical) sister have to do with anything?

"Well, that's ok, since I expect that Draco would opt for the other traditional response."

"Oh what's that?"

"The one where we find little pieces of Vincent floating in the Hogwarts river, but never enough of him for a positive identification."

"You mean the lake. Hogwarts doesn't have a river." Harry corrected automatically, "and that is a very disturbing image."

"I know, especially given how much of Vincent there is to begin with!"

"Wait, what?"

"But I guess squids aren't picky eaters."

Harry sighed and put his head down in his hands. "I forget. What were we talking about?"

"We were discussing why you are being so rude as to ignore the sign of my affections: You are not drinking the hot coco I brought for you, at quite some effort I might add, from my hot chocolate still."

"Affections?"

"Platonic affections."

Harry sighed "Thanks. But I thought your machine was still in the broom closet a two minute walk form here."

"Harry, Harry, Harry. It has nothing to do with the physical hardship. It is all purely mental," Luna replied.

'_I'll say it's mental.'_ Harry nodded, waiting for Luna to finish with a smile on his face. Whatever else you could say about Luna, she was always amusing.

"The effort was in a) remembering your existence, which admittedly is easier now that you no longer spend all your time with Draco, and b) not finishing off all the hot cocoa myself" Luna took a sip of the hot chocolate.

"Hey, wait! That's mine."

"So it is." Luna put the cup back in front of Harry. As she got up, she added, "You should work on part A yourself," and went up to the girls dorms.

"Part A?" Harry called after her. '_I'm supposed to remember that I exist? How can I forget? Or is she says I shouldn't hang out with Draco? That's also stupid, since we haven't really been friends in over a year.'_ Harry shook his head in bemusement and took a sip of the coco '_Or Maybe she's just crazy.'_

*****Hero*****Hero*

"Luna is insane" Harry sat down next to Neville in Herbology.

"And the sky is blue. So what?" Neville continued leafing through his notes, deciding which of the plants needed repotting.

"I mean she acts like we're a couple half the time, but if I ask her out, she always turns me down." Harry complained. When he had told Sirius about this, hoping for some adult advice, Sirius had explained his philosophy on dating, which basically boiled down to 'get into the girls' pants, then worry about the other stuff later. If there is a later'. So now he was asking Neville, as the most mature of his friends.

"Harry, if it bothers you, ask out Padma or somebody. I know Romilda was asking about you. She might be a better choice - I think Padma has ulterior motives."

"Yeah, like the fact that the only time she hits on me is when Terry is in the room. I'm not THAT dense." Harry didn't mention that he had just figured it out at breakfast that morning.

"I can introduce you to Romilda, if you want." Neville handed his notebook to Harry and pulled over a potted plant and a (larger) pot. Romilda spent a lot of her time with Lavender and Parvati, so that was a strike against her in Neville's mind, but at this point, he didn't really care. It would be better if Harry dated her and then crashed and burned rather than this constant whining.

"I'll think about it." Harry grabbed a bag of soil and started helping Neville by scooping it into the pot.

*Hero*Hero*

It was Hogsmead weekend, but Harry had opted to stay at school – the semester was rolling along, and he still had not finished replacing the runed bracelet that he had ruined. And with most of his year-mates out, it was a good time to do so.

Harry sat at his desk up in the Ravenclaw dorms, carefully engraving. The work itself was easy enough, he had already done it before. The hard part was remembering how to make the runes. Flitwick still had his book, so he was working from a combination of memory and the right side rune.

He was almost done when the yelling started. '_What now?'_ Harry made his way to a window – there was a crowd of students clustered outside. Something was going on, something serious.

Harry threw a handful of papers over his work and raced for the stairs..

'_What the hell am I doing?'_ Harry mused as he leaped down the stairs three at a time, _'I'll probably just get in the way._' He hit the final landing and raced ahead. But he wanted to be there. Maybe he could help, '_what? Am I some sort of hero or something?_'

His conflicted musings were interrupted as he almost slammed into Draco.

"What's going on? He asked.

"I don't know." Draco pulled open the main door and they both raced out. There, in front of them was Katie Bell, the Gryffindor seventh year, floating twenty feet up in the air, writhing in pain.

"Oh, god. That's all wrong. Can anybody get her down?" Draco called out anxiously.

"We've been trying." replied another seventh year Gryff. Harry didn't know her name, "Ron's gone to get Professor Dumbledore, but Finite Incatatem isn't working."

"Does anybody know soothing charms?" Draco cringed as Katie screamed again.

As Katie's friend started casting a pain relieving charm, Harry intoned, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and shot up to Katie's height. He had to hold himself very carefully so that he wouldn't tip over, but at least now he could get a good look at her.

She was snarling and spouting gibberish in between yelling. Clutched in her right hand was a parcel of some sort, with which she gestured. Something was off about the package. Harry cast a cursed item detecting charm.

"It's the package – it's cursed!" He yelled, just as Prof McGonagall came running out. She cast a spell that made Katie spin and drop to the ground. Then, carefully, she charmed the package out of her hand.

"We need to get her to Ms. Pomfrey right away." The scottish witch declared, "Ron, Alice, come with me. The rest of you, get out of the way. Quick now!" Harry hadn't even noticed Ron, but he must have returned with McGonagall, because he was here now, and looking anxious as he walked next to Katie's mobilocorpused body.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. '_McGonagall will take care of it.'_

"Um, good work Potter" Draco muttered, and disappeared into the crowd, _'huh. I guess he hasn't turned into a complete asswipe.'_ Harry's further musings were interrupted by Snape arriving.

"Everybody, the party is over. You can get amusement from the suffering of your classmate once you have gone inside," He scowled.

*Hero*Hero*

It wasn't until several days later that Harry found the time to finish up his medallion, which is why he, Neville and Ron were in the Room of Requirements

"On the count of three, start." Neville was standing off to one side, behind a wooden barricade, as Ron and Harry prepared to spar with spells and fists.

"One. Two. Three!"

Harry quickly muttered the Onmyodo shield spell (the only Onmyodo spell that he knew), gesturing with the hand that had the Ofuda dangling from it. A small spiral of glowing papers followed his his fingers

"Stupefy, lumos, expelliarmus" Ron began a spell chain, mostly to get Harry to move – a good fighter was much more likely to make a mistake when in motion than when he was set and ready. But there was the off chance that the combination would disorient Harry long enough for him to get a clear shot.

But Harry was already in motion, letting the spells fly by harmlessly as he darted to his left. Both boys started to circle slowly. They were still a good twenty feet apart.

Then Harry began his own spell chain "Stupefy, om, Accio, shuri, Lumos, mari mamari", alternating regular spells with parts of the Onmyodo chant (to keep the shield from fading). The papers managed to block most of Ron's attacks.

Whenever they were hit with a spell, the glowing slips of paper would shred like tissues, but reformed when Harry got to the next part of the chant. They provided just enough protection so that Harry was able to get out of the way of the spells coming at him. He began to advance on Ron, shuffling in quickly as he crouched low, to present a smaller target.

Ron circled, to get more room, but it took him more time to switch between attack and defense spells, because he had to use his wand to aim both, while Harry was using his off hand to direct the Onmyodo shield. Soon, Harry was almost in melee range, and Ron panicked, lashing out with a kick at Harry's midsection.

The kick hit the Onmyodo shield, knocking Ron off balance for a moment. As he staggered, he felt a quick punch to his kidney followed by a pressure on his chin pulling his head back. He tried to spin out of the take down, only to have his feet fly out from under him as Harry accio-ed his shoes.

"I surrender" He managed to squeeze out as Harry crouched, one knee on his back, his wand tip literally glued to the back of his head

"That worked really well!" Harry smiled as he helped his friend up. "The Onmyodo shield is slow to cast, but the fact that once it's up, I can reinforce it like that makes it super useful!"

"That was really cool." Neville came out from behind his protective barricade. "Both of you were really good."

"Yeah, but Harry's better" Ron stretched where he was sore from hitting the floor. "I want to see you spar Sensei Loew"

"Oh, you just want to see me get my rear end handed to me."

"On a silver platter" grinned Ron.

Harry checked the runes. "I'm glad we were able to get into the Room of Requirements. Somebody's been using it a lot lately."

"Do you know who?" asked Neville.

"No, but it's usually starts during dinner time, so I was thinking of staking it out tomorrow."

"I'll help" Ron volunteered.

"Are you certain it's worth it? We don't really need it for the DA this year."

"Don't you want to know?" asked Harry, "Maybe there is some secret group meeting here, and we don't know anything about it." And he wanted to know who was trespassing on HIS Room of Requirements.

"Maybe there is a an evil counterpart to the DA, like a Junior Death Eater club or something" Ron added.

Neville rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I got too much homework."

"Your loss," Ron shrugged, "We'll tell you what we find out, though." He turned back to Harry, "So when should we come up here.

"Before dinner"

"WHAT? But.. but what about food?" Ron was agitated. The loss of a meal was serious business.

"Pack up something during lunch to bring with you."

"Oh, ok" Ron replied morosely. But his dedication to the cause was such that he was even willing to skip dinner.

*Hero*Hero*

"Ooh, this is really uncomfortable," Ron whispered.

"Shh!" Replied Harry.

"There's nobody here yet. We'd see them coming. Are you certain we have to be up here?"

The two boys were Levicorpussed up to the (exceptionally high) ceiling, where they blended into the shadows with the help of a weak disillusionment spell - it was weak because Harry had discovered that it was remarkably hard to cast complicated spells when upside down. The 'upside down' part was also the source of Ron's complaints.

"There no place to hide around here. Now stop talking" Ron nodded and fell silent. Or at least his mouth did. His stomach gave a loud rumble. Harry glared at him.

"Dude, you made me miss dinner. I can't help it!"

Just then, Harry saw somebody coming up the stairs, and quickly put a hand over Ron's mouth.

Up the stairs came Draco and Crabbe, It was obvious that they were trying to be sneaky, because Crabbe was concentrating very hard on stepping daintily with his massive feet, so that the floor wouldn't creek. They stopped opposite the painting of the dancing ogres, and Draco paced back and forth three time to summon the door to the Room of Requirements.

After they entered, Harry kept his hand on Ron's mouth for several extra seconds. Finally, "Finite Incantatem" He dropped to the ground. Ron followed, landing less gracefully.

"That's really suspicious. I want to know what they are doing in there. You know, maybe I wasn't wrong with that crack about a Junior Death Eater club."

"You're just guessing - maybe they are not doing anything suspicious."

"Then why do it in a secret room.?"

Harry all of a sudden recalled Luna's observations. '_urk - not that' _he shook his head to clear THAT image out of it. Imagining Draco naked was bad enough, but even the idea of Crabbe without clothes on was enough to give a person nightmares. _'They weren't holding hands or looking all romantic. So no. Just no.'_ "You have no proof that Draco is a Death Eater."

"His father is," as if that was all the evidence that was required.

"Yeah, but Goyle's father is also, and Goyle is a member of the DA."

"And I never liked that fact. I still say we can't trust him."

"Ron, do you also not trust Hannah? Because I can guarantee you, she knows every thought that crosses through his little brain."

"Well, you never know. There could be Dark Hufflepuffs."

"Um, yeah." Harry went over to the door "I wish there was some way to peer in without letting them know that we are watching them." He placed his ear to it, but he couldn't hear much - just some banging.

"Well, something's going on."

"If we aren't going to burst in and confront them, we should go."

"Why, you hoping to catch the dinner before it's all done?" asked Harry as he stood back up.

"Um, that too, but I was hoping to visit Katie."

"I thought she was going to be in St. Mungo's for the rest of the week."

"Um, so?" Ron looked even more uncomfortable.

"Oh." Harry paused as his brain caught up to his mouth, "Are you two dating?"

"Well, no not yet, but you know.. remember how you said that I should look for a girl who likes the same sort of stuff as I do?" Ron rubbed the back of his head self consciously, "Well, it occurred to me that I spend a lot of time with Katie, now that I made keeper on the quidditch team, and we really get along great, so I thought, you know.."

"Go for it" Harry encouraged. "She seems like a nice girl"

*Hero*Hero*

"Hey. how's the search going?" Harry sat down next to Luna as the blond girl used a pair of omnioculars to look under a freshly overturned rock. They were halfway around the lake from the castle.

"Shh! They'll hear you."

"Who will hear me?" Harry whispered.

"The wigglegumps. They are very shy - they live under rocks and flee any loud noise. They hide in worm tunnels."

"Ah, so the omnioculars"

"Set to magnify AND illuminate. I bought the deluxe model" Luna turned towards Harry "GAH!" she fell backwards and belatedly whipped the omnioculars from her face.

"What?"

"Nose hairs. Too many, too close."

Harry held out a plate with a hunk of quiche on it. "You missed lunch again."

Luna took the slice and made herself comfortable on the overturned rock. "Ok, who's stalking who now?"

"So you admit you were stalking me earlier?"

Luna waived her hand, as if to shoo away a troublesome, yet irrelevant idea, "Harry, following girls around is a very unhealthy behaviors in a boy your age. It is more appropriate for a second or third year."

"Is it appropriate for a fifth year girl?" Harry persisted.

"I was only doing it for your benefit. If somebody with common sense wasn't keeping an eye on you, Merlin only knows what trouble you would have gotten into." She took a bite out of her quiche.

Harry stopped and consider 'Luna' and 'Common Sense' the two concepts were like oil and water: no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get them to mix. "I thought you were searching for Heliopaths"

"I'm taking a break. There's not enough sun to entice them out of their hidey holes." She finished her quiche in an unlady like bite, "And honestly? I'm getting a little frustrated by my lack of progress. I've decided to look for easier species. Also, you didn't see that." She daintily licked her fingers clean, "Or this either."

"Meh, I hang out with Sirius. Nothing fazes me." Harry shook his head, "He's old enough to be my father, but I swear, of the two of us, I'm the more mature" Harry decided not to mention Sirius' advice on dating as an example.

Luna smiled, happy that Harry had misunderstood her, "I know what you mean. My father.. I love him dearly, but if I don't owl him each day, he forgets to have dinner. Thank Merlin he has an elf service to do his laundry."

"Isn't it awkward? What do you write him?"

"Write? I just send one of the school owls and instruct it to peck him on the back of the head."

"They'll do that?"

"Of course. They are very wise and kind creatures. And heavily ensorcelled - you just need to know the override commands, and they will do anything you want."

"uhm… Can you you tell me the overrides?" Harry asked '_This could be worth a LOT to the next Hogwarts pranksters. Or I could hijack the owls and see what Draco is doing in the Room of Requirements..'_

"What overrides?" Asked Luna.

"The ones for the ensorcelled owls."

"The owls aren't ensorcelled, Harry" Luna said, a touch condescendingly, "They simply wise and kind creatures. That can be bribed with the correct owl treat."

Harry sighed. _'Why do I feel like I'm the more mature one in this relationship as well.' _"I gotta go - my next class is in twenty minutes" he stood up and dusted himself off.

Luna waved distractedly as she peered down between her dangling feet at the freshly exposed dirt with her omnioculars again.

*Hero*Hero*

It was the first week of december, as Harry was packing up his bag after Potions, that Horace Slughorn handed him the invitation. "It's for a little Christmas party for some people I know. It's not actually going to be on Christmas, as all the students will have gone home by then, and I DO want you all to be there. It's a good place to meet people and make connections." He smiled benevolently.

Harry glanced down at the finely crafted card, written on heavy card stock. The invitation was for Harry and a friend, and the date was for december 18th - just a few days before the start of the winter hol's.

"Thank you, professor. I'll certainly be there."

"Just don't get injured, this time" Horace patted Harry on the back.

Harry headed down to the great hall. _'It says I should bring a date._'. As he sat down at the Ravenclaw table, he glanced up to see a black haired Gryffindor girl watching him. _'That's Romilda Vain. Neville said she might be interested in me.'_ Harry took a deep breath and pushed his courage to the sticking point, '_lets go find out'. _He got up and walked over to the Gryffindor table. It felt like he was walking to his execution.

"Hi, Romilda?' Harry asked, 'Would you like to go to a party with me?"

The black haired witch, who had been pretending not to be aware of Harry's approach shot up like a bolt, her eyes glowing with excitement. "Really? I mean, yes, that would be fantastic!" She was a slightly plump girl, with a large chest and a huge mass of black hair cascading down her back. In another few years, she would be going to fat, but right now she was rather pretty.

"Ok, then' it's a date. It's Thursday evening in two weeks, at Prof. Slughorn's. Um, I think it will be a formal event, if that's a problem..."

"Oh, that's no problem at all!" Gushed Romilda, "I have a dress that I've been saving up for a special occasion, so that will be just perfect! She clapped her hands together in glee. Two girls who had been sitting with her were also looking excited, if only by proxy - her exuberance was quite infectious.

Harry smiled and nodded, _'This might not be so bad'._ He stood there, awkwardly for another minute, and then , "Ok, I'll see you later"

"Bye!"

*Hero*Hero*

Harry sat down next to Romilda at dinner that evening. As he did, she self consciously pulled the kerchief that she was wearing on her head down a little more. "Um, that's an interesting look."

"A Stick-sap Muscipula exploded all over my hair in Herbology. I got most of it out, but I need a special shampoo to completely unstick my hair."

Harry nodded in bemusement. He remembered the unit on those last year. When ripe, you had to handle them carefully, as the plants spread their seeds by exploding them out in a gooey spray when jostled. Neville had sacrificed one of his plants to glue Seamus to his chair. Good times.

The following two weeks passed slowly. In between studying for exams, Harry managed to get together with Romilda for lunch a couple of times, and usually sat with her for dinner. It soon became clear that while Romilda didn't have an original thought in her pretty head, she was exceptionally nice, always listening attentively whenever Harry spoke, and asking questions, even though she missed half his jokes and she often had no clue what he was talking about.

And additionally, she had no problem with pressing her rather ample bosom against Harry.

Harry smiled as she she poured him another cup of pumpkin juice._ 'Not every girl can be a genius._' And Harry was enjoying the attention, physical and emotional.

"GAH!" Romilda staggered away from the table, dripping pumpkin juice.

"What happened?" Harry jumped up, handing her his napkin.

"Somebody charmed my pumpkin juice to attack me!"

Harry picked up her mug. The top puckered up and tried to spit more juice on him, but fortunately it was empty.

"You've had a lot of bad luck lately." Harry commented, "What with the stick sap and this."

"You don't know the half of it - I must have stepped into something in potions, as one of my shoes has been shrinking steadily for the past two days. I can't even wear it anymore. And I um, had some problems with my undergarments - the latch broke right in the middle of DADA. It was really awkward."

Harry's eyebrow quirked up as he tried to visuals THAT wardrobe failure. Without looking at Romilda's (substantial) chest. It took all of Harry (substantial) will power, but he managed. '_If I didn't know better, I'd say that the Weasley twins were back.' _Harry looked down the table towards Ron, but he was oblivious, talking to Katie.

*Hero*Hero*

"Harry we need you for Team Blue"

Harry shook his head. They had finally managed to snag the Room of Requirements, and the DA was using it for another game of capture the flag (aka a mock battle), between 'Team Blue', lead by Terry and 'Team Green', led by Neville. "I am going to referee"

"What's there to referee? The side that get the flag wins. The bloody Gryffs have Ron, and we need you to balance the teams out, otherwise they'll wipe the floor with us." Somehow, the teams had gotten split along house lines.

Harry decided to be tactful and not mention that the last time Terry had Ron, Neville's team had still wiped the floor with him. Neville was just a better tactician. Now if Harry was team leader, that might be a different story… "Ok. I guess you're right. But you're still in charge."

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Terry slapped Harry on the back and went to organize some of the other team members.

*Hero*Hero*

"I can't believe that we lost!" Terry moaned. "I was certain that we had the Gryffs on the ropes. How did Dean Thomas, of all people, manages to stun you!" Terry rubbed his temples. "I guess that's what happens when you rely on a single resource instead of diversifying into a broader array of tool.. er I mean team members. I thought you would make up for Looney, but her sloppy transfiguration sent half the team staggering"

Harry nodded, glancing towards Luna. _'I need to talk to her, and find out what's going on. Before I find my underwear shrinking or something.'_

*Hero*Hero*

"I can't do it" Draco put his hands on his head and almost pulled at his already disordered hair. "The task that the Dark Lord set for me - It isn't working. I tried twice to get at Dumbledore, and all I managed to do is poison that Gryffindor girl. He's going to kill me if I fail."

Snape sighed, "You probably don't want to hear this, but your mother made me swear an unbreakable oath to make sure that doesn't happen."

"What, so you'll take over if I fail?" Draco went from distraught, to hurt to angry.

"If I have to."

Draco glared back at his mentor. "The main part is actually coming along well. It's killing Dumbledore that I can't do."

"What is the main part?" asked the spy.

"I'll do it myself! And I will take out Dumbledore as well - you'll see. I'm not the loser that my father says I am."

"He never said that."

"Not in so many words. But everybody knows." Draco stood up and walked towards the door of Snape's office. "I'll take care of it all myself. I don't need you or my mother picking up after me."

And slammed his way out.

*Hero*Hero*

On Thursday, the day before the Slug party, Flitwick came up to Harry as dinner was winding down "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office after dinner."

Harry made his excuses and headed out of the great hall. He hadn't gone more than a few steps before he was joined by Luna.

"Oh, hey. Where are you off to?" Harry asked as the blond girl trailed after him.

"I'm following you to protect you from the Nargles." Harry noticed that she had her wand out, and a serious look on her face.

"What nargles?" Harry's pace slowed to accommodate Luna.

"Haven't you noticed odd things happening around you? Malicious pranks?"

"Yeah, but those have all been targeting Romilda."

"Romilda? Who would bother targeting her? She's harmless and hapless and much too boring for the Nargles. They meant to get you, but only my timely defense has kept you safe."

Harry came to a complete stop "Um…":

"Go on, go on. You never get there if you move your lips but not your feet."

'Get where?"

"There, where you were making for."

Harry's eyes crossed as he tried to parse the sentence.

Luna sighed and goosed him in the side with her wand, "I know the Wrackspurts have drained most of your brains out through the ears, but you need to keep moving or they'll get your last two breeding brain cells, and then where will you be?"

Harry held his hands placatingly, "I'm going I'm going!"

Seamus, who was walking by with Dean snorted with amusement, "Dude is getting mugged by the crazy girl."

Harry self consciously lowered his hands and started for the headmasters office again.

"Or maybe" Luna gasped in horror "Maybe Romilda is actually a white court vampire and she is actually slowly sucking your mind out through your lips!"

Harry whirled on Luna "Knock it off! And what's your problem with Romilda anyways?" He almost snarled.

Luna stood frozen "What do you think?" She spun around and stalked off, "Good luck fending off the Nargles on your own!"

*Hero*Hero*

Harry was in an understandably confused state when he arrived the headmaster's office. "Hello, there Harry. Lemon Drop?"

"No thank you. You asked to see me?"

"Yes, yes." Albus took a lemon drop himself and pooped it into his mouth before sitting down at his desk. "I never did mention how impressed I was with your quick thinking at the Riddle mansion. You have a talent."

"Thank, you, sir."

"But that is not the reason I called you up. I went over the moors again, looking into that crevice that you and Sirius found. There IS something down there - I didn't see it at first, but I finally found a ward that was intricately woven into the entrance. I would like you to come with me to investigate further."

"Yeah, that would be great. When are we going?"

"I think Saturday will do quite nicely. I must say, this is the most promising lead yet."

Harry nodded. Despite the failures of the last two searches, he was excited by the prospect. This time, they knew that there was something there. "I'll be ready!'

"Excellent. Don't be late"

*Hero*Hero*

That evening at dinner, Harry was frustrated. "I have NO clue what's going on with Luna. She's usually pretty easy to figure out, but right now..." he sighed and took a bite of his chicken, "Now, she shoots me down when I ask her out, but she acts all upset when I start dating Romilda."

"I think I think the message she's sending is pretty clear" replied Terry. The Ravenclaw was sitting next to Harry and pretending to commiserate as he had a melt down. But it was hard to take the whole thing seriously. He was mooning over LUNA after all.

"So what's the message?" Harry asked hopefully.

"She's saying 'Hi, I'm Luna. And I'm insane.'"

"Actually, the message is "Hi, I'm Luna, and I'm pure evil.'"

Terry blanched at the voice coming from over his shoulder. "Uhm.. how much of that did you hear?"

"Enough. Out of my chair, Boots."

Terry got.

Luna sat down next to Harry. "Hi, Harry. How was your meeting with Dumbledore?"

*Hero*Hero*

Harry was waiting outside the entrance to the Gryffindor Common room. He glanced at his watch. again. Romilda was late._ 'Why do Gryffindor girls always take so long getting ready. Hermione never made me wait. Not this long.'_

Other students walked by, going in and out. Several glanced at Harry. _'Maybe I should ask one of the girls to check on her. Nah. That'd be rude. I'll wait another five minutes.'_

Several of the Gryffindors glanced at Harry in bemusement.

"Hello, Harry." somebody called from behind him. The voice was feminine, but it was coming from the wrong direction.

Harry turned around. Luna was dressed in what looked like a victorian ball gown - it was blue and green, and belled out at the bottom like a hoop skirt. And the whole thing had more lace than the all of France. Anybody other than Luna would have looked silly in it. but she somehow looked natural in it. And surprisingly beautiful.

"Let's go." Luna took Harry's arm.

"Go where?"

"To 'Sluggy's' party of course" Several Gryffindors paused on their way into the dorms to watch the spectacle. "I'm your escort for today. The invitation did not specify that you had to be romantically involved with your companion, after all."

Harry balked, "I'm sorry, Luna, but I can't. I already asked Romilda to go with me."

"Oh, she can't make it. She's gotten a trifle tied up. So you might as well go with the girl that's available."

"Luna, I don't work that way," Harry replied, turning away from Luna in annoyance. After a moment, he turned back to her, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, but I can't guarantee that you'll understand the answer," Luna replied airily

"Why are you doing this? You already said that you didn't want to go out with me, but you sabotage me when I try to get to know another girl." Harry's voice was starting to rise in anger, "I mean what the.."

"It's not that I don't want to go out with you" Luna interrupted, not looking at Harry. "It's that I am.. I am concerned that I am not the right girl for you."

"I.. what? But we have been friends for years!"

"I also... I also worry that..." Luna didn't know how to answer. She looked around, as if hoping one of the Gryffindor girls watching the drama play out would supply one. "You shouldn't take me seriously," She finally blurted out, "Just like two years ago."

"Luna, I do take you seriously. As to back then.. I.. well.. I was kind of a jerk, I guess. But that was two years ago. What would it take for you to trust that I am a lot more mature now? And that I will be responsible? Do I have to propose to you in front of the whole school" Harry wasn't certain where he was going with all this, but it was important that Luna know that she mattered to him. Whether they were dating or not, she was one of his best friends, and he didn't want her to be hurt.

"I don't know," Luna said in a small voice. This conversation had spiraled out of her carefully scripted control, and she had no idea where it was going. It had gotten a lot more serious than she had expected, and Harry was saying all the wrong (right?) things.. "I would like to know, though, you know?" She took a breath. "But I still think I'm the wrong girl for you. That if we go out, it will end up badly. And that you shouldn't take me too seriously?" She hadn't intended for that last to come out as a question.

Assorted Gryffindor who were making their way in and out of the common room had to navigate around the pair, who were oblivious to their audience. Several of the younger girls had gathered a few feet away and were watching the drama with baited breath.

Harry reached into his pocket for a knut and quickly waved his wand over it. "Trasmuto".

He then dropped down to one knee, and loudly asked "Luna Lovegood, will you marry me?" while holding up the ring.

"Harry, You are getting a little ahead of yourself" Luna muttered, blushing furiously, "Don't you think we should try dating first?"

Harry stood up "So are we an official couple?" he asked, taking Luna's hand.

Luna nodded, not able to say anything, but smiling widely as she stared up at Harry.

"Oh, that was so romantic" twittered the third year Gryff girls.


	7. Chapter 6

Harry walked into Horace 'Sluggy' Slughorn's pre-christmas party - THE place to meet people who are (or will soon be) _somebody_.

"Harry, my boy, welcome, welcome" The host himself greeted Harry. And stopped, his face momentarily frozen in a rictus of horror. On Harry arm, draped in more lace than the queen of France (ANY queen of France. Ever) was Luna Lovegood. Queen of the detonating cauldron, social pariah and the bane of his existence. Well, the last part was a little too strong. But nevertheless, Sluggy was not happy to see Luna at his carefully choreographed 'shindig'. "Make yourself comfortable" He continued, with nary a pause, "The refreshments are against the back wall." He plastered his smile back on and over-tightened it a trifle.

As Harry and Luna drifted in, they were surrounded by a mixture of Hogwarts students and adults, most of whom they did not know.

"Harry, can I introduce you to Eldred Worple, and his guest, the vampire Sanguini?" Slughorn gestured to a pair of men, one stocky and bespeckled and the other, standing at his shoulder, rather emaciated looking. "Eldred is the renown author of _Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires._ " He turned to the two adults, "This is Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and his guest. Luna Lovegood."

"Why, hello there" Eldred began, "I was wondering..."

"He's straight, and he's taken" Luna smiled, waved and lead a rather confused Harry Potter away towards the refreshment table. Apparently Luna had given into the 'dark side', or something, and was no longer trying to convince Harry that dating her was a bad idea.

All of a sudden Harry paused. "Um, Luna? Shouldn't we go back and untie Romilda?" On the way here, he had been so ecstatic that he had completely forgotten about his intended date.

"Oh, don't be silly. I wouldn't tie her up. I just charmed her potions homework so that she had to finish it before she could think to do anything else."

"Oh." Harry considered. On the one hand, it was mean to Romilda. On the other hand, he still wasn't certain what had just happened with Luna, but for once it looked like their relationship was moving in the right direction, and he didn't want to mess it up. "I guess she'll still be at it when the Slug Party breaks up. I'll talk to her then."

*Hero*Hero*

"Harry! Nice to see a friendly face." Terry was standing near the refreshments table with his date, Nola Johnston.

"Yeah. This isn't what I was expecting either." Harry made his way through the crowd.

"Oh? What surprised you? The fawning or the artificiality of it all?" Luna asked, holding her drink daintily.

Terry glanced over at Luna. He glanced down at Luna's hand (which was holding Harry's), up at Harry, and then back at Luna.

"Don't get dizzy. That's what the drinks are for," Luna took a sip of hers.

Terry leaned over "Um, Harry? Aren't you here with the wrong girl?"

"No, I think this is the right one," Harry replied in a very self satisfied tone. Luna simpered.

Nola quirked an eyebrow and casually pulled out a modified sneakascope, which she held cupped in the palm of her hand as she scanned Luna.

"Oh, boy. Oh, man." Terry was at a loss for words, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not going anywhere in your vicinity for the rest of the week. I don't want to be collateral damage."

Nola leaned over to her boyfriend, "He's not potioned."

Terry rolled his eyes. "Thank Merlin for small favors."

"It's not that big a deal" Harry replied. "I just decided to go with Luna instead of Romilda. It's not like Romilda and I were dating or anything."

"Not to you, maybe. But Romilda has been talking about nothing else for the past two weeks." Nola replied.

Harry had a bad feeling about this.

*Hero*Hero*

Luna walked into her dorm and sat down on her bed. All the energy and excitement of going to the party with Harry drained away.

It was wrong.

She reached for the candle on her night stand and lit it. Once the flame was bright, she brought it up close above her left arm.

She tipped it, letting the burning hot was drip on the inside of her arm. It took several minutes to cover all of her arm, but it was still too short, so she brought the flame up close and let it play over her hand until she couldn't take the pain anymore.

*Hero*Hero*

"Harry. We need to talk." Neville sat down opposite Harry at breakfast. It was the morning after the Slug party. "What you did was bad. Really bad. And really, really stupid."

"Not you too," Harry sighed as he blearily ate his eggs. The party had run late, and then he and Luna had gone up to the astronomy tower and talked. Well, they used their lips, but after the first little bit, there wasn't a whole lot of conversation.

"Yes, me too. You really hurt Romilda's feelings. She spent most of yesterday evening crying in the girl's loo."

"Oh." Harry paused. "Do you think I should go apologize?" Harry looked around, but there was no Romilda.

"Yes, I think you should go apologize. That was why it was bad. The reason it was stupid is because Romilda is the number one gossip in Hogwarts. The whole SCHOOL knows her version of how you stood her up and dumped her. At least the female half."

"Oh." Harry looked around - there were several girls at the Gryffindor table that were glaring daggers at him. And the entire Hufflepuff table. Slytherin seemed not to care. Ravenclaw was split 50-50. "Wait, why do you know? You're not a girl."

"I'm in the same house. Every Gryffindor that didn't go to the Slug party heard. I'm trying to do damage control, but don't expect a miracle." Neville stood up. "Anyway. I'll see you next week."

"What? Why?"

"I don't want to be collateral damage." Neville walked quickly back to the Gryffindor table. Harry looked around - he belatedly realized that all the seats in a ten foot radius around him were empty. _'I should go find Luna and warn her. Romilda might come after her as well.'_

*Hero*Hero*

Harry had to change his underwear.

It was the middle of Charms and Flitwick was explaining something about silent casting, but Harry couldn't pay attention, because his underwear was shrinking.

Harry tried to look around and see who had cast the jinx on him, but he didn't have much time - any moment now, his testicles were going to get shoved up into his kidneys, and he already had the mother of all wedgies. "Um, professor, can I be excused to the bathroom?" he asked, his voice strained. Somebody tittered.

Harry fled.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry survived the rest of the day, though he had had to skip lunch, as it had tasted like dirt. Literally. He's not certain how the girls got that spell past the elves. Or maybe the house elves were in on it. '_Just my luck if the House Elves decide to 'punish' me as well.'_ He had tried to find Romilda to apologize, but she was apparently avoiding him. And after dinner, he was going Horcrux hunting with Dumbledore and Sirius.

He made one more half hearted attempt to find Romilda after dinner, stopping off at the Gryffindor common room on his up to his dorm, but nobody would tell him if Romilda was there.

'_At least there are only three more days until Christmas break. Maybe they'll forget about this vendetta over the hol's'_

*Hero*Hero*

"Are you certain you need all this?" Luna asked as Harry loaded up his robe with all the knickknacks he had picked up over the past while. They were up in the Ravenclaw boys dorms, and Harry was getting ready to go.

"Yeah. I'm still only so so at spells, so if we get into trouble, I need an edge." Harry shrugged. "It's what I always do."

"I had wondered where all those dirty tricks you pull on me when we dual in DA came from."

Harry shrugged and smiled deprecatingly, "My pocket? I'm probably being paranoid, but enough weird stuff has happened to me that I would rather be over-prepared rather than the other way around. I'll see you later." Harry gave his girlfriend (and the cause of much of the 'weird stuff') a quick kiss and made his way out towards Dumbledore's office.

*Hero*Hero*

"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked as Dumbledore let him in.

"He was unavoidably called away." at Harry's raised eyebrow, he elucidated, "There has been a lot of odd goings on these past two days - a lot of suspected Death Eaters have been moving about and congregating. It is possible that they are planning something. Sirius is helping keep an eye on a group, so we will have to go on without him."

The two wizards portkeyed to the barren moor that they had explored earlier. "There is a path over here. It's a trifle steep, so watch your step" Dumbledore led the way down the narrow path incised into the cliff face. At the bottom, there was a strip of sandy ground. One end ran out to meet the ocean, while the other went inland, forming the bottom of a corridor-like ravine. The cliff walls here were too steep to climb, and they almost met overhead.

As they entered this gloomy passageway, Dumbledore held up his hand. "There is a ward here. Make yourself comfortable while I disable it."

Harry sat. He tried to see what Albus was doing, but it was a level of magic that was too advanced for him - he couldn't make heads or tails of what he did, but after five minutes, Dumbledore wiped his brow. "We're clear to go."

After another fifty feet, the ravine ended in a small clearing. On the cliffside opposite them, there was the entrance to a cave. "I think that is it. That is the source of the magic that I detected." Dumbledore started forward, only to stop at the lip of the cave.

"What's wrong?"

"There is a powerful ward here. I don't think I can dismantle this one - it's an Aztec ward. It requires a sacrifice. A sacrifice of strength." Albus thought for a moment, and then added, "Blood loss should do the trick." He quickly pulled out a knife from under his robe and slashed his mutilated arm, letting the blood flow

Harry watched anxiously as Dumbledore stood with a growing puddle of blood at his feet. Finally, Albus waved his wand, sealing the wound. "That should do". He swayed slightly, and Harry stepped forward to catch him. "I'm ok. just a moment's dizziness Let's keep going."

They made their way down the passageway. The passage angled down, leading further below ground. Soon, the air was cold and dank. The only light came from the tip of Dumbledore's wand. As they went down, neither wizard talked, and the silence became oppressive, though Harry was periodically distracted by thoughts of Luna - thoughts of what she might be doing right now. Thoughts of what her lips had felt like. Thoughts on what the bloody hell was going on in her mind. After what felt like forever, they entered into a vast underground room, filled with a glowing green lake. Albus was was breathing hard and not looking at his best.

"Professor - I think I have something that will help" Harry pulled out his first aid kit and reached into the box that was barely big enough for his hand, "It's a blood replenisher."

"Thank you Harry" Dumbledore took the potion, "When did you start carrying around a first aid kit, might I ask?"

"Since Hermione." Harry got up and walked over to the edge of the lake, careful not to touch the water. "Professor - there are bodies down there!"

Albus came up and peered in as well. "Inferni. They are spelled to attack if anybody disturbs the water."

"Well, lets not do that, then."

"Unfortunately, our destination is yonder. And there are anti-apparition wards here." Albus pointed to the island in the middle of the lake, which held the source of the green light - a stone pedestal of some sort. As Harry looked around helplessly, Albus pointed off to one side: "there - a boat is hidden over there."

Dumbledore demonstrated by climbing into the invisible boat. But as Harry tried to put his foot into it, the boat began to sink. He quickly jumped back. "That is a conundrum - the boat is ensorcelled to only carry one person."

Harry stepped back and summoned a length of rope. "How about if you just drag me? I will cast Wingardium Leviosa on myself, and use the rope to tie myself to the boat."

"That might work" mused Albus, "but lets do it in the other order" he helped Harry secure himself to the boat first. And indeed the boast did not recognize the extra 'passenger', remaining afloat.

"Are you ok up there, Harry?" Albus asked. The boat was half way across the lake, drifting magically across at a snail's pace. Harry was holding himself very stiff so as not to tip over.

"I'm fine" Harry replied through gritted teeth. _'Please don't tip. Please don't tip._' It would be excruciatingly embarrassing to be towed behind the boat while hanging upside down.

Finally they arrived at the island, and Albus again took the lead. The stone plinth contained a potion, with a locket on a gold chain resting at the bottom.

"Is it safe to reach in?" Harry held his hand over the potion.

"Yes, it should be, but I am not certain if that will work."

Harry shrugged. He pulled up his sleeve and reached to fish the locket out. As soon as his fingers touched the potion, ripples spread out from the point of contact, and the locket moved like it was just an image floating on the water. Harry tried scooping it, but his hand encountered nothing.

"As I thought - the only way to remove the potion is to drink it." Dumbledore squatted down, "And the potion will force you to visualize all sorts of horrible things." He took a long draught from the potion "NO!" he staggered back.

Harry caught him before he could collapse "Are you ok?"

"I will survive, Harry."

"Why would Voldemort subject himself to something like this? There must be another way"

Dumbledore shook his head "The visions are only horrible to a sane person" and took another sip. As he finished, he collapsed to his knees, appeared ready to vomit.

"Professor, you have to stop!" Harry looked around and scooped up a pebble, "Here, let me try this" He focused all of his will like Luna had showed him, and transfigured the rock into a badger, which he placed on the lip of the potion pool. "Let this little guy do the drinking."

Harry watched as the badger guzzled the potion. The level of the liquid did not go down. If anything, it was slowly creeping back up.

"It has to be a wizard that drinks the potion, Harry." Albus staggered back up, clutching at Harry's arm for support.

"I don't think that's a good…" Harry paused and pulled out his charmed sickle. The one that all the DA had, but rarely used this year. His eyes got wide "Professor - Hogwarts is under attack!" He showed Albus the writing on the sickle.

"Do you trust the message?"

Harry nodded.

"Then we go. The locket can await another day."

As the boat slowly drifted back to the shore, with Harry drifting from the front this time, he couldn't help but visualize all the horrible things happening back at Hogwarts. Luna's lifeless body, sliced open from hip to shoulder. Hogwarts in flames. His friends all fighting for their lives. Luna dead.

"Professor - cast expelliarmus on me - that will pull the boat faster."

It showed how worried that Dumbledore was that he only nodded and pulled out his wand. The sudden jerk knocked Harry almost to the water, but the boat was yanked half way to shore.

"Again!"

This time, Harry actually dipped into the water, splashing the foul stuff up before slamming onto the beach. Harry lay sprawled, the wind knocked out of him.

As the boat grounded on the sand, the inferni staggered up from the water "Run, Harry!"

Albus waited at the exit, casting spells to repel the inferni as they reached for Harry.

Harry severed the rope and scrambled for the exit, the inferni close at his heels. As he kicked one hand that was reaching for him, he grabbed a handful of the warding stones he had used for practice and scattered about half of them between himself and the inferni.

The inferni staggered back as if it had hit a wall when it tried to cross over the ward. Harry joined Dumbledore and they fled.

"What were those?" Albus asked, curious even though he barely had the strength to walk. Harry had to half carry him up the passageway.

"I have been practicing drawing the Seal of Solomon. I hope we don't need them again - I only have four more."

"That is an unusual hobby. I don't know of any modern warding schemes that use that particular device. Albus was talking more to distract himself from the pain spreading out from his gut more than true curiosity.

"Professor Loew showed me some schemes that use it. And he explained how the seal itself can be used as a powerful, if localized ward."

"Adam Loew again. If he can engender this level of interest in all his students, it would be worth.." Albus staggered, but Harry caught him in time. "It would be worth my while to lure him away from Beauxbatons."

Finally, they were outside the cave and the anti-apparition wards.

*Hero*Hero*

"Hey, what's that?" Terry looked up from his homework as a third year pointed out the Ravenclaw common room's window. Floating outside, for all to see, was a glowing green Dark Mark.

Terry raced to the window. There, visible by the illumination of the Everburning torches and the flashes of spell fire, he could see strangers running through the courtyard, firing curses at any student in their way "Death Eaters! Death Eaters in Hogwarts" He whirled around. "Simon - send a warning to all the other other DA members."

"What? How?"

"The sickles." Terry looked around. "The rest of you." he looked around to see who was present. There were about a dozen DA members. And Luna. "Those of you who are DA members, come with me. We are Blue team. Everybody else, seal the doors and don't let anybody in. Let's go kick some Death Eater ass!"

*Hero*Hero*

"There are Death Eaters in Hogwarts" Neville was standing on a table in the Gryffindor common room as the other students crowded around. "We know why they are here. They are here to murder and destroy. It is up to us and the DA members in the other Houses to stop them!" he looked over the crowd of Gryffindor faces looking up at him. "I want every DA members fourth year and up that is willing to fight to come with me, to defend our homes like we trained." A dozen boys and girls got up and moved towards Neville. "Dennis, you take all the DA members third year and younger, and you defend the Gryffindor dorms. Don't let anybody in."

"I can help!" Romilda stepped forward to join the DA members

"And you WILL help! It is likely that some of the Death Eaters will sneak by us, so defending the younger students here in the dorms is vital." When she looked set to argue, he added "You haven't the level of training that the DA members have. But I am counting on you to be here." He turned back to the DA members. "Wands out, Green team!"

*Hero*Hero*

Goyle paced anxiously, before darting towards the doors to the Slytherin common room. Crabbe blocked his way. "I told you already - you can't go out. There's bad shit going on out there!" The few Slytherin DA members had backed down from his imposing bulk.

"I know! I know! But I gotta see if Hannah's ok." Goyle made up his mind. He stood straighter and pronounced. "Let me out. I'm going to go check on Hannah."

"That's stupid. You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I'll be careful. But I have to go." He tried to look menacing, the way Harry did it. He wasn't certain if it worked, but Crabbe backed down.

"It's your life." Crabbe opened the door.

"I'll go with you." Goyle turned to see Hestia Carrow - a quiet fifth year. He opened his mouth to say something: Hestia wasn't in the DA after all, but nothing came to mind, so he closed it with a shrug.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry staggered under Dumbledore weight as they portkeyed into the headmaster's office. He let go of the older wizard and darted for the balcony to see if he could make sense of what was happening. "There are Death Eaters in Hogwarts. and Werewolves!" He could see the lupine forms in the flashes of light from spells being fired.

He turned back towards Dumbledore, only to have the the balcony door slam shut. He stopped and opened his mouth to call out when he saw Draco burst into the study and pointed his wand at Dumbledore. The balcony door was glass, and with the lights on in the study, he could see in clearly, but since it was dark out, so he was invisible to those inside.

"What will you do?" he barely heard Albus's question. The elderly wizard was obviously in no shape to fight even a student.

Draco stood there, his wand wavering, but he didn't cast anything. Harry stood, stunned, as he watched his former friend menace his teacher.

"Why do you have to keep doing this?" Draco cried out. "I don't want to do this! You should have died earlier! Just drank your poison."

"Then lower your wand." whispered Albus, "Everybody does things they regret. Merlin know I have done plenty. Don't let this be one of yours."

Draco looked conflicted.

They were still standing like than when Snape burst into the room. He moved like a marionette being pulled along by an amateur, and some of his strings were tangled. "The Geass!" he gasped.

Harry's hand belatedly went for his wand as some force pulled Snape's wand hand up.

"Avada" He began as his wand jerked towards Albus.

"Kedavra!" At the last moment, his arm jerked backwards, splashing the wicked green light into his own chest.

Draco collapsed, sobbing as Snape fell lifeless.

Harry was wondering if he should force his way in when he was distracted from the drama in front of him by the sound of running feat. Going by below was a pair of Death Eaters chasing some first years.

"Wingardium Leviosa" As they rounded a corner, Harry jumped over the bannister, falling slowly to the ground.

*Hero*Hero*

"Be careful. You don't have the training that I do," began Goyle. He and Hestia were crossing a narrow alley between two Hogwarts buildings, as a shortcut, when she called "look out!"

Goyle just had time to look up as the werewolf leaped into him. He barely managed to maintain his footing, staggering away as the giant wolf leaned on him and reached for his face with it's jaws. He pushed up on its head to keep its teeth away from his throat as the monster savaged his arms and legs with its claws.

Hestia stood, one hand cover her mouth in horror, her wand drooping to the floor as Goyle tried to find something on the werewolf to hold on to.

*Hero*Hero*

The squad of Death Eaters were advancing along the wall, towards the door to Ravenclaw tower, when a bench in front of them shook itself into a giant, slavering attack badger. Two others follow suit.

The Death Eater leader opened fire with Reductos as the other Death eaters formed a defensive half circle against the wall, their eyes scanning for the wizard attacking them. Which is why the remaining four death eaters were so surprised when the wall reached out and bit their leader's head off.

As the stunned death eaters watched the corpse spray blood into the air as it slowly collapsed, the windows on a second floor galley running through the wall opposite them shattered, spraying glass out as a barrage of spells lashed out.

"Stupefy"

"Stupefy"

"Expelliarmus

"Stupefy"

"Reducto."

"Expelliarmus

"Stupefy"

The Death Eaters were all hit with multiple spells before they could even reorient themselves.

"Good work, team" Terry pronounced. He tried to look assured and in charge, but he couldn't help casting horrified glances at Luna. The blond girl just smiled, apparently unconcerned by the carnage which she was the architect of.

*Hero*Hero*

"Reducto stupefy ignis stupefy reducto reducto" Ron cast, blasting a barrage of spells at the Death Eaters that had stormed into the great hall. He and three other Gryffindors were defending the passageway towards the Gryffindor Common room. Or so it would seem to the Death Eaters that were hunkered down behind some transfigured tables in the middle of the room as they waited calmly for the students to tire and start getting sloppy before taking them out at their leisure.

In reality..

"Stupefy" a flash of red from a balcony to the right of the them.

"Stupefy" from the entrance to the Hufflepuff dorms.

"Expelliarmus" from the teachers dais.

"Reducto" the classrooms.

"Stupefy" another balcony.

The Death Eaters raised protegos, but they were bewildered as spells rained on them from all sides, never from the same spot twice. They tried to turn to focus on these new attacks, but the unending stream of spells from Ron's team kept them pinned down and unable to respond effectively. The Death Eaters were all powerful wizards, and many were competent dualists, but their grasp of group tactics was minimal: Nobody had ever taught them how to fight as a team, instead of as a rabble. By the time they realized that something was wrong, they were surrounded, spells splashing on their overlapping Protegos.

Soon all the Death Eaters were turtled up, which is when Neville took aim "Reducto" and blasted through the floor right outside their Protego. As the floor buckled, the Death Eaters staggered and their shields faltered. They were all Stupefied moments later.

"Go Green!." Neville whooped. "Ron, take Dean and scout towards the classrooms. Go to the first set of stairs. If there are no enemies present, hold and message me on the Protean charm."

Ron nodded and ran off.

Neville looked around. The great hall had too many passageways - there was no way to prevent somebody from encircling you. As the Death Eaters had learned. "The rest of you, break up into teams of two and start transfiguring the doors into stone and warding them like Harry showed you. All except the Gryffindor passage and the corridor to the classrooms." That would slow any attackers down.

*Hero*Hero*

"Avada Kedavra" The mudblood spawn collapsed just short of the door into the keep.

Donald Rosier examined his work - two more of the filthy spawn removed before they could breed. The Dark Lord would be pleased. His partner was gasping for breath - those spawn had lead them on a merry chase across half of Hogwarts. "Muggles do breed for speed. It must be to make up for their lack of brains." Rosier was just turning to joke with Kramer when his partner's chest exploded in a spray of blood.

"Protego." Rosier called out before he even processed what he had seen. He turned to look for his opponent, relying on his shield to protect him, as his training kicked in.

"Aguamenti"

A fire hose of water slammed into the bottom of his shield, knocking him off balance and turning the ground under his feet to slippery mud. The shield acted like a lever, flipping him over so that he slammed face first into the mud. He never saw the spell that took his life.

Harry stepped from his firing position behind a rain barrel, a frown on his face. He took a step forwards before turning to one side and emptying his stomach. He had seen death before. He had even killed Cedric. But that had been different. He had been in a state of shock, and hadn't really processed what was going on. This time, he had been enveloped in a cloud of rage, but his mind was clear.

'_I should check on the kids'._ He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and tried top focus past what had just happened. What he had just done.

He approached to examine the first years. He knew they were dead, but the need to do something drew him on. When he heard the sound of fighting from the castle window above his head, Harry blasted the door in front of him to splinters and burst in, running for the stairs.

*Hero*Hero*

Goyle gave up on keeping the werewolf away. Instead he hugged the furry monster to his chest, pinning it's front paws and face so they couldn't attack him. And he squeezed.

They were both lying on the floor at this point. Or was it grass? Goyle wasn't certain where they were. The rear claws kept mauling him as his arm pressed down on the Wolf's throat. He was bleeding badly, but he just kept tightening his grip. He wasn't certain if there was anybody else nearby. All he could see was the werewolf's right eye as it tried to turn it's muzzle far enough to rip his face off..

He wasn't certain if he would bleed to death or what would happen next, but he kept tightening his grip. It was the only thing he could do.

*Hero*Hero*

"Protego. Stupefy Protego" Terry chained as he retreated from the attacking Death Eater_. 'This is a disaster!'_ Terry had no idea where the rest of team Blue was. All he knew was that at least some of them were still fighting, as he head spellfire from back down the corridor.

His team had walked almost face first into a group of Death Eaters. At least one of his guys went down in that first chaotic exchange, and the rest panicked and fled. Apparently they pulled themselves together, but it still meant that he was fighting alone against a more skilled dualist.

'_Not good.'_

*Hero*Hero*

As Harry turned the corner, he came face to face with a Death Eater. The masked man took a step backwards and raised his wand.

At the same time, Harry stepped forward and grasped The Death Eater's wand hand with his left hand and smacked the mask with back of his right. Before the death eater could recover from this surprise, Harry grabbed the elbow of the death eater's wand hand and yanked it in, at the same time twisting the wand out of his hand.

The Death eater was jerked forward. As he caught himself from falling with his left leg, Harry stomped down on it, scraping down along the inside. The leg buckled.

Harry switched hands, grabbing the Death Eater's right hand with his left and pushing it skyward as at the same time he grabbed the masked head with his free hand and shoved it down and under his left elbow.

The Death Eater spun around and landed on his rear right in front of Harry, facing away. Harry dropped all of his weight down in a hammer fist on top of the Death Eaters head.

The masked man dropped, stunned. Harry dug out his wand and stupefied him, just in case.

*Hero*Hero*

"Werewolves!" Dean yelled as he raced up to Neville.

"Seamus, Dean, come with me - use flame spells. Werewolves will heal from pretty much anything else." Neville ran back up to join Ron, who was holding at bay three large Weres using a flamewhip. But even still, the werewolves were slowly advancing, forcing him to back up.

"Brace and fire" Neville called out.

"Incidio" came the voices. Balls of fire shot out one after the other, causing the werewolves to dodge. But the Incidio spell was hard to cast and harder to aim, so the wolves dodged around the flames and looked for an opening.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry raced towards the fight - it was a trio of death eaters against Flitwick and another man that Harry didn't recognize. They were dueling in a corridor that crossed his. As Harry approached one of the Death Eaters staggered, his leg turning boneless.

Harry's corridor was just slightly behind the Death Eaters, so Harry dropped to a crouch behind a statue of a knight and opened fire, taking a second Death Eater in the side with a Stupefy. The remaining Death Eater staggered as a spell knocked his mask off.

It was the bastard that had murdered Hermione.

Seeing overwhelming odds, he turned and ran.

Harry found himself running after the Death Eater. He wasn't certain when he decided to give chase like this. It was a stupid thing to do.

"Reducto" He yelled as his target ran into a teachers lounge.

Harry burst in after him.

Harry was so focused on the pursuit that he didn't realize that he was running through another battle until the pair of werewolves leaped at him.

At the last moment, a flicker of motion warned him that something was coming at him from the left side. Harry reached into his pocket and flung out his remaining warding stones, with the Seal of Solomon. As the four stones intersected with the Wolves, the stones kept on going as if nothing had changed, but the Lycanthropes were swept backwards as if they had hit a wall. A moving wall.

"Reducto" Harry shattered the shoulder of one. "Incendio" the fire spell hit the second, a split second later.

He turned just in time to fall backwards and throw the first wolf over his head as it leaped at him. He rolled up to his knees "Incarcerous" a ropes lashed around the werewolf as it tried to scrabble to its feet despite its still mending shoulder. Harry tossed a handful of sickles at it. "Transmuto" he quickly transfigured the silver sickles into a silver coating for the ropes before the lycanthrope could burst through the restraints.

He stood up and was turning to check on the wolf that he had fried when something slammed into him.

Harry rolled and kicked upwards, managing to keep the werewolf from biting him. It was the second wolf - the Incendio had just singed him, but it hadn't been hot enough to kill. It was a huge hulk of a beast, as large as Luna 's transfigured bear-dogs. It was scarred and singed and missing an eye. And it was furious.

"Stupefy"

"Expelliarmus"

Two weak spells, barely visible, slapped into it's flank, staggering it. Harry saw the Wolves original prey - two fourth year Hufflepuff girls. But their spells weren't going to stop this monster.

The Were reared it's head back to rip out Harry's throat when a flaming eagle burst through the door and landed squarely on the monster's back, enveloping the Lycanthrope with it's wings.

Harry could barely feel the heat from the flaming thing, but apparently inside its embrace was a different matter as the wolf's fur flamed off and its skin charred and blackened.

"Don't you dare touch my fiance!" Luna stormed into the lounge, her wand directing the Fiendfire creation as the werewolf slowly burnt and crisped in it's embrace.

Harry watched in horror as the monster's flesh melted away, turning to blackened char. Finally the fire went out and the dead carcass fell onto him, stinking of cooked meat and feces.

Harry pushed himself up to his feet, shaken. It took him two tries to pick up his wand.

"Are you ok?" Luna ran up, solicitously, as the Hufflepuffs watched, frozen in shock.

Harry nodded "fiance?" he asked quietly as he tried to get his shaking under control.

"I'm sorry? I think the shock is making you hallucinate." Luna looked puzzled as she inspected Harry for any damage. "Did the Werewolf bite you?

"No, thanks to you."

Luna relaxed, "That's what friends are for."

END


	8. Chapter 7

Harry held tight to Luna for another moment, still recovering from the shock of almost being eaten before stepping back awkwardly.. "Luna, why have you been practicing with the Fiendfire?"

"Oh, that. I was working on a some way to lure a Heliopath out of its lair, so I thought a little birdie would make a tasty treat for one."

Harry looked around. Hermione's killer was nowhere in sight, and in retrospect, chasing after him like that was incredibly stupid in the first place "Do you know where the rest of the DA are?"

Luna shook her head "The Ravenclaw members started out together, but then we got separated in a battle with some Death Eaters." She did not appear unduly concerned, as if Death Eater attacks and missing classmates were of no consequence.

"Why on earth did you go looking for trouble? What about protecting the other Ravenclaws." Harry was annoyed.

Luna cringed slightly. "I don't know why the others went out, but I was looking for you."

"And that makes it better? You could have ended up dead! You of all people know dangerous this is!" Harry realized he was still yelling.

Luna cocked her head to the side, "Would you rather I hadn't been out to rescue you? Because from where I am standing, it certainly looks like I saved your life."

"I…" Harry paused, deflating, "I just don't want you to get hurt."

Luna continued to look at Harry oddly, with her head cocked to one side, "All successful marriages are based on trust Harry. You should remember that" she patted his hand as Harry was again at loss for words. "We should take up a defensive position, in case there are more Death Eaters or Werewolves around." Luna glanced around for something to use for cover before stopping in front of the werewolf carcass "Transmuto" she transfigured it into a low stone wall. She looked over at the captive werewolf that was watching her with blood shot eyes. "This will do. But I still need something to sit on. You give me any trouble, and you're a sofa."

The two fourth years started to get up from where they had been kneeling behind a doily covered table. "No, stay there." Harry quickly motioned for them to get back down. "If any trouble comes, it will head for us. You're safer there." He sat down next to Luna and started trying to make sense of the mishmash of messages that had gotten jammed together on his protean charmed sickle. "Arg! This thing is all screwed up!"

"It was never intended to send that many messages at the same time. Here - let me see if I can set it straight" Luna took the coin and stared to fiddle with it.

"Luna, I don't think this is the time for that right now." Harry was alternating watching over the wall and glancing over at their prisoner.

"Carpe Diem, as my daddy always says. Or was it Carpe Carpum?" Luna replied distractedly as she continued to cast diagnostic spells on the coin. "No, that's 'Seize the Fish'."

"Luna." Harry was getting nervous. He wished there was something he could do about the werewolf, but other than killing it, he didn't know of any spell that would affect it, and even that was no easy task. "You said you came out here to keep me safe, right?"

"Uh huh" Luna muttered.

"Well, you're not doing it."

"Oh. I guess I can work on this later." She put the coin in her pocket and took up watch next to Harry. And a quick Transmuto at the werewolf also covered it with something a little stronger than silver coated ropes.

The Fourth year girls looked desperate for reassurance, but the one time one of them stood up, a glare from Harry sent her back to cower with her friend.

It felt like hours, but it must have been only fifteen minutes before McGonagall, Bill Weasley and a wizard that Harry didn't know came into sight. "Professor, in here - we have a prisoner!" Harry felt like a huge weight had lifted off of him.

*Hero*Hero*

After the emergency, all students were dismissed back to their houses. All those that were uninjured, that is. The adults were grim faced, and rumors were swirling about as Harry entered the Ravenclaw common room.

"What happened?" He looked around for Terry, but he wasn't there. Several DA members clustered around Harry, telling a confused tale of ambushes given and received and running battles in the hallways. By the end, Harry still wasn't clear who did what.

"Simon - take a head count - who's missing of those that went out with Terry?" Harry asked, as he sat down. He was exhausted, and as the adrenaline left his system, he was shaking slightly. He gratefully took the cup of hot cocoa from Luna as she sat down next to him.

"It's from the House Elves - I can't go out to my still" she said apologetically." She appeared to be unperturbed by everything that had transpired. '_I guess being a little detached from reality has it's upsides.' _Harry smiled his thanks.

"It's only Terry and Anthony Goldstein that are missing." Simon finally replied. He collapsed into the chair opposite Harry. "You know, those were Death Eaters."

Harry looked at him, "uh, yeah."

"No, I mean, WE fought against Death Eaters, and we gave better than we got. I know we took out six in the first ambush, and then in the melee afterwards, I saw at least one more go down. And we only took two casualties."

"How can you be so blase!" Nola almost screamed in his face. "One of those was Terry. Why were we out there in the first place? If we had stayed here and defended the House, then we would have had NO casualties!"

Simon cringed into his seat before Nola's righteous fury.

"Yeah, but we kicked Death Eater ass!" called out somebody from behind Nola. Before she could whirl around and rip him limb from limb, Harry interrupted.

"Guys. GUYS!" Harry stood up, "I don't know who is right and who is wrong about what you should have done. I wasn't here. but what I DO know is about bullies. If you avoid them, they won't stop. They'll just come after you the next day or the day after that. The only way to stop them is to make them fear you." He looked around the room. "Right or wrong, that's what the DA did. The Death Eaters aren't going to attack Hogwarts again. Not on our watch. Not unless they have giants with them or something" Harry shrugged self consciously and sat back down

There were some nervous giggles at that.

Before the discussion could go any further, the common room door opened and Flitwick entered. "I have some news" He was grim faced.

"Is Terry ok?" called out Padma before anybody else could say anything.

"Yes, he'll be fine. He is in the infirmary, but his injuries are not life threatening. No, the news I bear is that at the same time as the attack on Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic was also attacked, and the Minister of Magic has been killed."

There was a stunned silence. Finally, a seventh year asked "so, who's in charge?"

"We don't know. There were other casualties as well, and much of the building was damaged, so it will take time to find other survivors. I felt you should know, before you hear the rumors." Flitwick was usually so animated that you didn't notice his tiny stature, but now he looked very small. "If any of you need to discuss what happened, or need help contacting your families, please see me tomorrow. Classes are canceled, and we will begin Christmas break a little early" he departed with a wan smile.

*Hero*Hero*

Breakfast the following day was a subdued affair. For many students, this was the first time that they had to pay attention to what was happening in the world outside of Hogwarts. And it wasn't reassuring. Ron was one of the few who didn't look overwhelmed by the situation

"How are you holding up?" Harry sat down next to him, "Have you heard from your parents?"

"Yeah, I owled my mum. She says everybody's fine. Dad was called in to help defend the ministry, but by the time he got there, most of the fighting was over. He said that they were going to spend all night shrinking the rubble and searching for survivors." Ron shredded his pancakes. Apparently all the adventure of the past 24 hours had worked up an appetite.

Harry nodded. He actually didn't care, but he had learned that you needed to fake it, or you would end up like Luna. "Has there been any word from Sirius?" His godfather had been one of those at the Ministry when the Death Eaters attacked. Nobody had heard from him since yesterday afternoon.

"No, sorry mate," Ron said sympathetically. He actively didn't like Sirius - that maniac had held him at wand point third year before stupefying him. But he had learned that you needed to fake it, or you would end up like Luna.

"Is Neville around? I hear he was leading the Gryffindor DA last night."

"I think he went up to the infirmary to check on the injured students." Neville really DID care. Or he was much better at faking it. "But it was awesome:" Ron shoved a whole sausage into his mouth, "we took down a bunch of Death Eaters, and then we held off this pack of Werewolves. And nobody on our side got hurt." Ron swallowed, "And that was due to two things. One, your training, and two, Nev's leadership. You should give him an award or something."

"That's not a bad idea. But I'll have to think about how to do it, so don't say anything to Neville." Harry got up, "I should go up and visit the infirmary as well."

Ron pushed away from the table, "I'll go with you."

As the two boys walked through Hogwarts, past oddly subdued students, Ron asked, "Um, I heard a rumor that you're engaged to Luna?"

'_Oh..' _Harry groaned internally, "I don't know. It was more of a joke at first, then she acted like she was taking it seriously. And then she didn't."

"So you're not really engaged?"

Harry considered how to phrase this. There was no way Ron could keep his mouth shut. Whenever food wasn't going in, words were coming out, and he paid very little attention to either one. "We are in a serious, committed relationship" If Luna WAS serious about this whole screwball thing, and he acted like he wasn't... Harry didn't know what she would do, but she was a little screwy when it came to relationships. And he had already hurt her badly the summer after fourth year.

"Um, ok. Just be careful - I heard from one of the 'Claw DAs that she transfigured herself into a dragon or something and bit the head off of a Death Eater. And afterwards, all she said was 'needs ketchup.' That girl is scary."

Harry rolled his eyes "Ron, you know how rumors are."

"Still. you tell me that there isn't something off about her."

"Yes, there is something off about her," Harry replied. "I dated her before, remember? But so what? She's very sweet, and she's funny, and she isn't fake the way Lavender and her ilk are."

Ron walked along quietly after that until they were almost to the infirmary. "You got it bad, don't you?"

"What?" Harry was confused.

"You really are in love with her." Ron opened the door and went in.

"Well, yeah." Harry was surprised to hear himself say, "Though I wouldn't put it that way," he quickly added as he followed Ron into the infirmary "Hey, Terry! How are you doing?"

"I'll live." Terry smiled sleepily, "Though my quidditch playing days are over." He pointed to where his left arm ended above the elbow.

"Shit! I hadn't realized it was that bad!" Harry was horrified.

"Chill, dude. It was my own fault. And my dad spoke to the head of Prosthetics at St. Mungo's. He says that the state of the art in magical prosthetics is WAY more advanced than in the muggle world. It'll take a little money, but the Medi-wizard says I'll be back to normal by summer." His words were slightly slurred, and it was clear that he was on some strong pain potions.

Given that Terry's father ran a large, successful law office, and they lived in a mansion in Woldingham, 'a little money' was probably more than the annual salary of your typical Englishman - Muggle or Wizard.

"I hear that Anthony.."

"Yeah. He got hit with the killing curse." Terry muttered "And Goyle's at St. Mungo's. They're not certain about him. I gotta sleep."

Harry nodded and got up. Ron was talking animatedly with Michael Corner and Ernie Macmillan - the Hufflepuff had broken his arm, so he was happy to have the distraction from the pain of of Skele-grow.

At the far side of the room, with a privacy curtain pulled halfway, was Draco Malfoy.

Harry walked over and sat down next to the Malfoy heir and his former friend.

"What do you want, Potter?" Draco looked in fine health, and at first Harry wasn't certain why he was there. Then, an idea dawned.

He leaned in closer to the blond boy, "you're a dead man."

Draco's eyes got hard, "I don't take kindly to threats."

"It's not me that's threatening you, Draco. You know how Voldemort is with failure. I saw you - I know you were supposed to kill Dumbledore, but you couldn't do it. What do you think he will do to you when you next see him?"

"That's.. that won't be a problem."

"Oh, you don't think he can get into your house? That's what my parents thought too, back fifteen years ago. Face it: you go home for the summer, and you're not coming back for your seventh year."

"What do you want, Potter?" Draco asked, his voice more shrill than he wished.

"I want… I want your help, because whether you want to be or not, you're not on Voldemorts side any more." Harry leaned back, and made an effort to speak more casually. "Look, we used to be friends. I know that we have had our differences, but I think I'm the only friend you have who won't turn you over to Voldemort."

"I'll think about it, Potter" Draco looked away, "We'll talk after winter break."

"Are you going home for Christmas?"

"Hell no. You said it - I leave Hogwarts and my life isn't worth shit." Draco whispered. Harry was surprised at his crudity - Draco rarely swore, "Dumbledore concocted a story that I was injured in the attack, and that I have to stay here. That will work for the winter break. But for the summer - I need something. Either I.. I do what I have to, or I run for my life."

"Or you help me."

"Help you do what? How are YOU going to keep me safe?"

"I have an idea for how to dispose of Voldemort."

"You can't kill him. He's got something, something that makes him immortal."

Harry smiled and made sure that nobody was listening before continuing "I know. But I have an idea for how to deal with that. If I'm right, then you're free. If I'm wrong." Harry shrugged. "Last time it took him over a decade to recover from dying. That gives you ten years to create a new life in America"

Draco considered.

"Fine. I'm in. It's probably stupid, but like you said, I don't have a lot of options." Draco leaned back to consider what he had agreed to.

Harry sat for a moment before getting up, "I'll be in touch."

"Hey, Potter" Harry turned back to Draco, "I never said it, but I'm sorry about what happened to Hermione."

Harry smiled wistfully, "Yeah, me too."

*Hero*Hero*

It was weird. They were supposed to be finishing up classes today, but instead, they were all heading for the Hogwarts express.

Usually, everybody was talking about school and boisterously blowing off steam. Now… Now people were subdued. School didn't seem as all-enveloping today as it usually did. At least he had gotten a message over the magic mirror - Sirius was ok, just a little banged up.

"Are you going to be staying with the Weasleys?" Luna asked, as she walked with Harry down to Hogsmead station. Despite their technically being a couple, things had gone back to being like they were at the start of the year. Except that Luna kept taking Harry's hand every few steps. Of course, a few steps later, she had to release it to adjust her necklace or hair or skirt, until she finally put both hands behind her back.

"No - I have to do a week with the Dursleys - something about blood wards that my mother set up to keep me safe. Though I'm not certain if they actually do anything. I should talk to Dumbledore about it."

Luna didn't say anything, and they walked in silence that began to grow awkward. As they reached the station, Harry made an exaggerated courtly bow to indicate that Luna should go first. She didn't smile. _'She's annoyed about something.'_ Harry tried a few other attempts to lighten the mood as they boarded the train, but nothing worked.

"So, I'll see you when we get back." Luna turned and headed towards a compartment at the back of the train.

"What?" Harry raced after her, "no, I was hoping to get together for New Years, and you can call me at the Dursleys. I know you don't have a phone, otherwise, I'd call you." Harry stepped into the compartment that Luna had chosen and pulled the door shut.

"Oh? You won't be too embarrassed in front of your relatives by the odd girl who doesn't know any muggle customs?"

"No, I don't care what they think." Harry paused, trying to organize his thoughts. He had eventually figured out where he had screwed up last time, and he wasn't going to repeat THAT mistake. "I think you're wonderful, and if they can't see that, then screw them - you're more important than those stuck up jerks."

A slow smile spread across Luna face before she stepped up to Harry and buried her face in his chest as she hugged him tight. Harry leaned over and planted a slightly awkward kiss on her nose.

At which point Luna teleported out of his arm, looking guilty. "Now Harry, that sort of thing isn't appropriate at this stage of our relationship."

Harry sighed in exasperation, "Luna, you were the one making sexual innuendoes back two years ago whenever I saw you"

"Harry, that was two years ago. I was a different person then." Luna shook her head sadly.

"I don't think so."

"Besides" Luna interrupted before Harry could say anything further, "We don't want to be thrown off of the train for lewd conduct" she pointed out the window to where other students were passing by.

*Hero*Hero*

"Boy, get in the car." Vernon commanded as he pulled up to the curb. Apparently, the Dursleys had gotten over their fear of Harry.

Harry, as usual, was waiting for them around the back of Kings cross station, except this time, he had spent the time chatting with Luna.

"Hello, Uncle. This is Luna. She is my girlfriend." Harry made a point of introducing Luna as politely and calmly as possible, even though his heart was hammering away and his stomach was roiling with anxiety. '_I guess I DO care what they think'._

Vernon eyed the blond girl suspiciously. "Is she one of THEM too?"

"No, Mr Dursley, I am unique" Luna replied.

Vernon just grunted by way of reply before turning back to Harry. "What are you waiting for? You going to walk home?"

As Harry got into the car. Luna added, "Mr. Vernon, I don't know if Harry has mentioned, but I am not a very nice girl. While my Harry is a sweet, kind boy, I am pure unadulterated evil." She smiled brightly at the slightly flummoxed man, "I expect my Harry to be treated well. Otherwise I will hire a giant to step on your house. After that, he will 'Fee-fi-fo-fum', smell the blood of an Englishman or three" She gave pointed looks at each of the Dursleys, "and grind your bones to make his bread" she waved cheerfully, "to-de-loo."

As the car pulled away, Dudley asked nervously, "Are there really such thing as giants?"

"Yeah, but don't worry - they aren't for hire."

"Oh."

There was silence in the car as Vernon drove.

"She's that girl that called you over the summer, after third year. The one you said you weren't dating."

Harry turned to look at Dudley in surprise. '_He's not as stupid as he looks. Then again, he looks like Goyle, and Goyle isn't so bad.' _Harry shrugged "That was back then."

"You said she was weird."

"She IS weird. I just decided that weird is better than the alternative." Harry gave a pointed look at the Dursleys.

Dudley thought about that. "Want to spar?" he asked quietly, so that his parents wouldn't hear.

"Sure"

More silence as the car slowly ate up the miles to Surrey.

"Why are you asking all these questions?"

Dudley shrugged "You're my cousin." at which point Petunia turned around, "You are nothing like him, Dudders, so don't you go getting any ideas from that criminal."

"I'm not a criminal" Harry replied defensively Petunia just huffed. Dudley rolled his eyes.

*Hero*Hero*

"Where are we going?" It was Monday after Harry had gotten back from Hogwarts, and Dudley was leading him down to their old primary school.

"You said you wanted to spar. But mum's gotten real nervous about me fighting, so we can't use the back yard."

They had turned onto the lawn between the side of the building and a tall wooden fence. And with trees all around, it wasn't visible from the street. Dudley went up to the door leading into the gym of the school and leaned on it. The door popped open.

"I thought you did boxing in school. I thought she was cool with that"

"Yeah, but mum didn't realize that when I'm boxing, sometimes I'm the one that gets hit."

"Hmm. And you're going to get hit a lot, when we spar."

"Yeah?" Dudley snorted, "Bring it, Potter."

The two boys shucked off their jackets. Dudley had just turned to face Harry when Harry's kick connected with his stomach.

"I wasn't ready, Potter" Dudley growled once he got his wind back.

"So get ready." Harry took a fighting stance similar to Dudley.

As the larger boy moved in, Harry snapped another kicked, this time at Dudley's forward leg. As his eyes got big from the pain of having his shin kicked, Harry struck his blocking arm down before bouncing his hand into Dudley's face.

"Ow." Dudley shook his arm. It tingled from where Harry had hit it, "I'm not used to fighting bare knuckle."

"Oh? You certainly did enough bare knuckle fighting back when we were in primary school."

"That wasn't fighting."

Harry lashed a jab at Dudley's face while he was still talking. As his hands came up in surprise, Harry tagged him in the stomach, Dudley managed to deflect most of it by throwing his arms out.

"That's right, it wasn't. Because I wasn't fighting back." Harry jabbed at Dudley's face again, turning it into a hook that clipped him on the ear at the last minute.

The spar continued like this, with Harry getting in hits on Dudley's arms and legs and sometimes glancing blows on other targets.

Dudley was a decent boxer, but he lacked the speed that Harry had. And Harry knew how to inflict pain just by hitting the arms or kicking the legs, something Dudley never had to deal with before.

Dudley grabbed at Harry's head, to immobilize him. Harry retaliated by kneeing Dudley in the meat of his leg. As Dudley staggered on his collapsing leg, Harry pinned his hand in place and pivoted, hyper extending Dudley's elbow before rolling an arm bar across it. As Dudley bent over like he was trying to touch his toes, Harry stepped in and and leaned his knee into Dudley's good leg

THUMP.

The larger boy went down like a sack of rocks.

"For the record, if I had yanked hard just then, I would have torn all the ligaments in your arm" Harry informed Dudley as he got back on his feet.

Harry stood waiting. Dudley watched Harry. Finally, he took the initiative, coming in with a combo of punches. Harry stepped back, parrying as he struck at Dudley's right arm yet again, causing it to spasm in pain. Before the large teen could recover, Harry stepped back in and blocked up, knocking Dudley's wounded arm up and and then pulling his torso in for an elbow smash.

Dudley's head came forward as the wind was knocked out of him. Harry pivoted and snaked a hand around so that he had Dudley in a shoulder lock. He crouched down, slamming Dudders face first into the ground before letting go and leaping back, to allow Dudley to stagger back to his feet.

"Want to do this some more?"

Dudley stood looking at him, anger obvious in his eyes "If I hit you, you'd be down for the count," but he got himself under control. "You're too fast. Are you using magic on me?"

Harry jangled his warded charms, "Yeah, but only a little" he smirked.

"That's cheating"

Harry shrugged, " I don't fight fair. I fight to win."

"You're an asshole." But Dudley said it without any rancor. "Let's go home."

*Hero*Hero*

"How are you doing?" Harry had his mirror our and was chatting to Sirius. He wasn't certain if the Dursleys could hear him through the walls of his room, but he figured that they wouldn't do anything to cause trouble - they would just pretend that everything was normal. Because freaking out wasn't working for them anymore.

"Pretty good. I got a cool scar on my right cheek out of this. Once it heals up, it will make me look more manly. All the girls will be impressed"

"I take it that Sarah didn't work out?" Sarah was the medi-witch that Sirius had been hitting on as he was getting patched up. According to Sirius, she was wild for him.

"No, not so much. We went on a date, but it was a flop." Sirius said glumly, obviously upset by yet another failure in the dating game. "How about you? I hear that you're back to dating the Ravenclaw chick - the one that the Daily Prophet described as a younger, blonder Bellatrix?"

"Will everybody stop with that? Luna is not crazy or evil. She's a nice girl. And yes, I'm dating her."

"For the record, Bellatrix was a nice girl too, once upon a time. Like back in primary school. I think - it's hard to remember that far back." Sirius rambled distractedly, "But that's not the point. The point is that you should be careful, and not go too far too fast. Get to know her before you go to too far. You know?" Sirius was obviously not real clear on what to say or how to say it, but he felt it was his duty to give Harry 'The Talk'. Harry just nodded. "Like what is this that I hear about the two of you being secretly engaged?"

"That's pure bull - it's just a rumor that started because of how I asked her out. It was a joke that got out of control."

"Oh, good" Sirius gave a sigh of relief, "Because playing the field is all fine and good, but if you were secretly engaged when you were dating Hermione, that would have been just plain wrong."

"Yeah." Harry decided to get to the point of the call before his godfather went off on another tangent. Sirius was a a lot of fun to hang out with, but he wasn't the most 'focused' of wizards. "I actually have a favor to ask - when we get together for New years, can you bring everything you have in the Black library on Sympathetic magic?"

"Sure, but most of it will be a slog to read - nobody's really used sympathetic magic in like a hundred years - it's too unpredictable" Sympathetic magic was a principal that when something was split into two pieces, the two parts remained magically connected, and that connection could be strengthened and used for spell casting. In theory. Problem was, the connections tended to be delicate, giving quirky or sometimes no results.

For example, sympathetic magic was how wizards used to make two way mirrors: they would take a single sheet of mirror, cut it into two, and enchant it using a simple spell based on the Law of Similarity. But if one of them got even the slightest scratch, the connection broke. Modern two way mirrors were much more rugged, but a lot more expensive to enchant.

"That's fine - I have the finest minds in Hogwarts to help me."

"Speaking of - will I get to meet your girl then?"

"Yeah. Um, just don't mention the whole engagement thing, ok? It's a bit of a sore point with her." Harry sighed _'Like she blew up at Hannah when she mentioned it'_. Were ALL relationships as screwy as this, or was it just the Luna factor?

"There's a story here, isn't there?" Sirius gave a predatory smile

"Yes, there is. and if you go digging for it, I'll disown you!"

Sirius' face fell.

'_Uh-oh. I think I hurt his feelings.' _"Um. Just joking. but seriously - Luna's really delicate and sensitive about some stuff, so go easy on her."

"Oh. ok. See you then"

"And bring the books!"

*Hero*Hero*

"How wonderful!" Luna clapped her hands in joy, "It's not often that I get to meet a wanted criminal!"

"Seriously - don't bring it up. It's a sensitive topic." Harry sighed. Maybe meeting up with Sirius when he and Luna went out to Diagon Ally for New Years wasn't the smartest choice. It was too late now - the Knight Bus pulled up to them, and Harry let Luna board first.

"Hey, what happened to your arm?" As Luna had bordered the bus, Harry noticed that she was holding her left arm funny. Harry took a closer look at Luna. She didn't look so good in general – she had black circles under her eyes, and her smile was too brittle.

"It's nothing – I just cooked it burning dinner, I mean I burnt it cooking dinner last night. About Sirius: I don't mean to be mean. But as a criminal he must not be bound by the same narrow conventions as those that blind the rest of wizarding society. He might be willing to help with my search for the missing Heliopaths."

"I wasn't aware that they had gone missing" Harry replied, _'since they would have to exist for that to happen.'_ He carefully checked to see if anybody was listening to the conversation. Because he was worried about Sirius's safety, not because he was embarrassed to be talking with his girlfriend about something she found interesting. Really.

The bus was almost empty, except for the bus driver and Stan the conductor, who was trying to calm down a middle aged witch in the middle of the bus. Harry took a seat near the front. He liked watching the bus race through traffic.

"HE-LLO," sang out Luna, "when was the last time you saw a Heliopath? That's right. Never. So what happened to them?"

The bus swerved around a lorry before squeezing into a spot between two cars barely large enough for a motorcycle.

Ernie the bus driver craned his neck around "I saw a Heliopath. It was right off of the A377 in Devon. But that was in the '20s. not certain if it's still there."

"Eyes on the road!" came the shriek from the middle aged witch as she clawed at Stan in a panic. She must have been muggleborn

"Really? What was it doing?" Luna asked intently.

"Not much that I could see. It just went up the side of this hill, is all."

Luna grabbed Harry's arm "Harry! We have to go to Devon right away. It might still be there!"

"It probably is still there. Unless they paved it over."

"What?" Luna asked flummoxed.

"What?" Ernie asked, steering around a tanker truck (at what felt like light speed) without ever glancing at the road.

"What's a Heliopath?" Harry asked, tentatively.

"It's a path for sunning yourself on, obviously," replied Ernie as he slammed on the brakes, "Here you are. Leaky Cauldron."

As the couple got off the bus Luna paused. "We never exchanged Christmas presents!"

"Oh, ah, right!" Harry wasn't sure if the present he had gotten for Luna was any good, so he had secretly hoped that she would just forget about Christmas. It had almost worked.

"Here - I made you this!" Luna pulled out a necklace of butterbeer bottle caps strung together on a string. When Luna slipped it over his head, the necklace reached half way down his chest.

"Um… thank?" Harry smiled. "Here". He handed Luna a copy of _Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials_ "It's a muggle book about fanciful creatures from their stories. I thought that some squib writer might have snuck in a real, magical creature in as a joke."

Luna beamed, and grabbing Harry's hand, skipped into the pub. Harry surreptitiously slipped the necklace into his pocket.

As they made their way to Fortescue's, where they were to meet Sirius, Luna commented, "You don't have to wear the necklace all the time, but I warded it with a strong Finite Incantatem, so you should put it on when you go looking for trouble.

"I don't go looking for trouble!" Harry replied indignantly.

"Of course not, dear" Luna patted his hand. "Well, here we are. So where is your family criminal?"

"Luna!" She just looked bemusedly at him. Harry sighed. "Let's just order ice cream." Harry pulled out the necklace and took another glance at it. The inside of each bottle cap was indeed inscribed with a rune. "Why bottle caps?" he finally asked.

"Why not? They are cheaper than runic blanks. Not all of us are made of money, you know." The line for ice cream was long. The tense atmosphere that had gripped the wizarding world for the past week was lifted for the holiday, and people were out in large numbers.

They were just sitting down at a table on the (magically expanded) sidewalk outside the shop when Sirius joined them, dropping a bag of books in front of Harry. "Hi, Harry." Sirius turned to Luna "This must your blond Bellatrix."

"Ah, the criminal!"

'_Oh, Merlin..' _Harry facepalmed, '_This whole thing is going to explode in my face.'_

Which is when the windows on the shop across the street blew out and a pair of wizards in Death Eater masks rushed out.


	9. Chapter 8

As the Death Eaters rushed out of the shop across the street, Harry sprang out of his seat.

"Lumos" He cast into the eyes of one of the Death Eaters as he vaulted over the planter blocking off the sidewalk. The Death eater staggered to a stop as the pulse of bright blinded him. "Cover me! Protego"

"Harry! Shit! Stupefy" Sirius bolted up and began casting at the Death Eaters, trying to get their attention away from Harry, who was running straight at them, a Protego shield firmly in front.

The Death eaters were not expecting such instant resistance, and when spells began raining down, they spread out and started deflecting them. As the one on the left circled leftwards, his foot caught on something and he staggered and fell.

It was just his bad luck to land on a row of needle sharp stalagmites that happened to be growing out of the street to meet him. Luna nodded approvingly at this fortunate coincidence before turning to see what the other Death Eater was doing.

"Avada Kedavra" the Death Eater yelled, but Harry was already inside his guard, and he deflected the Death Eater's wand to the side as he slammed into him, palming him in the chin with his right hand. As the Death Eater's head went up, Harry stepped in and brought the same hand down on his solar plexus, at the same time slapping the back of his head with his left hand before twisting his body and slamming his with elbow up into the Death Eaters head.

As the masked wizard dropped to the ground, Harry reached over and pulled the wand from his loosening grip. "Stupefy"

"Call the Aurors!" somebody yelled, as a child began to scream in terror. The whole confrontation had been so fast that only now did the civilians begin to react.

"Harry, that was insane!" roared a furious Sirius.

"You almost died. You shouldn't do something like that, Harry." Luna frowned, "Otherwise the light will go out from my world."

Harry's head whipped back and forth. "Sirius - the Aurors will be here any moment - you got to scram." He finally managed.

Sirius looked like he wanted to stay and yell at Harry some more, but then he gave a tight nod. "We'll talk later" and apparated away.

Harry turned toward Luna, who stood with her back to him, as she drew designs on the street with the toe of her shoe, using the blood that pooled at the base of the stalagmite. Her arms were hugged in front of herself, and she looked upset.

"Um, Luna… are you ok?"

"No, I'm not! You went charging in, and you could have ended up dying, or worse yet, having to kill the death Eater. And and.." Luna seemed to deflate, "and that is not acceptable!"

"I.. I kind of panicked," Harry admitted, "I was worried about you. I don't want anybody I care about to die again."

"In that case you should have stayed back with me and cast Protego like a gentleman." she kicked at the stalagmite with the corpse on it. "You... I would have kept you safe. But if you attack like that.." Luna started to pull on her hair, as if she was hoping to pull the right words up out of the depths of her mind. "You shouldn't do something like that, or you could go dark, and that would be bad."

"Luna, I'm not going to become evil by defending myself. Besides, aren't you worried about becoming 'dark' as you call it?"

"No, don't be silly. Besides, I am me, and you are you, and you need to reconsider your priorities."

Harry opened his mouth, '_My priority should be NOT to defend myself or those that I care about? Or is it that I should let Luna defend me?''_. Harry didn't even know where to begin. He just stood there, mouth open, as his brain tried to come up with the correct response.

"Ahem" came a bemused voice, as an Auror stepped forward to take their statements.

*Hero*Hero*

It took them an hour to get through all the questions that the Aurors had. By the time they were done, the place was swarming with reporters from the Daily Prophet and other papers.

"Can we have a moment of your time, Mr Potter?"

"What was going through your mind as you rushed towards the masked assailants?"

"Mr Potter, is it true that you are engaged to Ms. Lovegood?"

"Harry – may I call you Harry? Did Hermione know about your relationship with Luna?"

Luna grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him into the ice cream parlor "Do you have a back door?" she asked.

Fortescue nodded, pointing to a stock room. The two teens raced in, and out into the alley. Several savvy reporters were already approaching from Diagon Ally, so the teens took off in a run.

Twenty minutes later, they were back in Muggle London. Somewhere. They weren't certain where they had crossed over. Possibly through that one alley that stank of cat urine and vomit.

"Just for the record" Luna panted, leaning against a wall, as she and Harry tried to catch their breath, "Just for the record, you're still not off the hook."

"Let's go home" Harry changed the subject. He flagged down the Knight Bus to Ottery St. Catchpole. The trip back was quite. Harry wasn't certain what to say. Should he apologize for defending Luna? Or should he tell her that he appreciated her help? Or.. A thought occurred to him - was there something else bothering Luna? Luna had never been irrational like this before, but she had been off all semester.

Harry took a closer look at the blond girl. _'How long as she had those circles under her eyes?' _ If something was bothering her... Luna WAS really bad at explaining herself. It would explain why her mood swings were so… swingy.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Luna pulled herself together, "But we will talk later." Luna gave Harry a quick hug as the Knight Bus pulled up at her stop. "You're far too good for me." She walked up the street to her house.

Harry was still lost in thought as he got off at the top of Private Lane - he figured that stopping directly in front of number 4 would lead to more screaming than absolutely necessary. And while he was more self confident than back in fourth year, avoiding screaming was still a good thing.

As he walked down to the Dursleys', an elderly woman stepped out onto the sidewalk, and with a disapproving frown, waited for him. It was Augusta Longbottom

When Harry recognized who it was, his pace sped up. "Is Neville ok?" he asked.

"Why, yes he is. Thank you for asking" her expression lightened somewhat, "Why wouldn't he be?"

"I just thought, since you are here.."

"Oh, my being here has nothing to do with Neville. I am coming to discharge an obligation." She examined Harry up and down. "I have heard of your confrontation with the Death Eaters."

Harry started, '_that was quick'._

"And I have to say that your defense of Hogwarts was admirable. Very admirable" Harry's eyebrows unknit _'oh, she's referring to THAT one'._

"And as you are the leader of the defenders, and the one that my grandson has sworn fealty to..."

"I don't think he has," Harry muttered, embarrassed.

"Tut, it's a formality. Now don't interrupt. It is very bad manners." She frowned down at Harry momentarily, her elaborate hat exaggerating the motion into something that looked not-quite human. She then continued, "I am to give you The Longbottom Sword. It has always been a tradition that the women of the Longbottom family would keep it until it was most needed, and then loan it out to the one that the felt was the best choice for fighting off the darkness" She lifted up a scabbarded sword, and held it out to Harry.

Harry took it. "Um, thanks?" He examined the sword, pulling it slightly out of the scabbard "It looks very nice." The edge was very sharp. "Does it have a name?"

"It's The Longbottom Sword" Augusta replied, as she activated a portkey to take her home. As she spun up into the air, she added, "though the muggles call it Excalibur."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry walked into number 4 private drive, bemused. The image of the elderly Augusta Longbottom distractedly pulling a sword out of her handbag was oddly humorous.

"What's with the sword?" Dudley called out from in front of the television.

"And old woman just gave it to me." Harry shook his head and tried to figure out what to do with the weapon.

"Do you know how to use it?"

"No - it's way bigger than anything I've ever practiced with."

"Well, put it away. Dad doesn't like weird stuff in the house." Dudley turned back to his program.

Harry was just about to snark that he was well aware of that little flaw in Vernon's character, when he decided that there was no point in arguing with his cousin - it wouldn't change his dim mind any, and he might refuse to let Harry beat the stuffing out of him again (aka 'spar with him'). But first he should be the responsible almost-adult that he was and call Sirius.

Harry went up to his room and pulled out the two way mirror. Sirius' visage appeared immediately - he had been waiting for Harry "Harry! The Aurors didn't give you any trouble over what happened?"

"No - we pleaded self defense, they did want us to explain what happened something like three times. We named you as an unknown wizard."

"Good. Now I can give you a piece of my mind with a clear consciousness" Harry belatedly notices that Sirius looked pissed 'WHAT on EARTH were you thinking, charging that Death Eater like that? What if he had been faster with his Avada Kedavra? That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen! Are you telling me that's how you are training in the DA? Because if it is, you should stop and disband before you get somebody KILLED!"

"Um.. Yeah. that wasn't so smart. I forgot that you can't block an AK with a Protego." Harry looked embarrassed, "I already got an earful from Luna" _'If this was what she was going on about, it's actually kind of sweet.' _But Harry wasn't certain.

"That's not going to cut it, young man. That was reckless and ill conceived and..."

"It worked out, didn't it?" countered Harry. "Ok, I'll admit, it was a stupid maneuver, but I made it work."

"What if you were farther away then.."

"Then I wouldn't have charged. I figured I had enough time to close to hand to hand range before he got a spell off. I was right." _'mostly' _Harry added silently.

Sirius sighed, "If there was something I thought I could do to stop you from doing that again, I would. But there isn't, is there?" He took a deep breath. "And your girlfriend isn't much better. She is a little.. odd" The word that Sirius wanted to use was 'creepy', or maybe 'psycho', but he didn't think that Harry would listen to him about that either. "Is she always so blase about violence and death?"

"Her mother died right in front of her when she was little, so she's a little quirky when it comes to death.."

"Yes, but she killed that Death Eater and then just smiled in approval as she inspected her handiwork."

"He was evil - he had just killed a shopkeeper. You can't tell me that he didn't deserve it."

Sirius decided that Harry wasn't going to listen to anything he said, so he tried switching the topic. "That level of transfiguration - I don't think I could pull something like that off without any prep time. She's a Transfiguration prodigy!"

"Yeah. It's because she refuses to let the world boss her around." Harry replied proudly. "She sees the world her way, and isn't going to back down."

"Yeah. Just be careful with her, ok? I know I'm not really an authority on girls anymore, since I've been off the dating circuit for over a decade, but Luna is no Hermione."

Harry paced back and forth, holding the mirror. This was NOT his day. He knew he had screwed up big time in that fight, and was lucky to be alive, but Sirius didn't need to read him the riot act. And why was everybody ganging up on Luna? Though Luna was being weird (-er than normal), alternating between sweet and standoffish (and that was also anxiety causing). Harry knew that girls had cycles - though weren't they supposed to be over the course of a month, not 15 minutes? "Sirius, I know what I'm doing. Look - I'll talk to you later - I want to see if I can talk my cousin into getting the tar beat out of him. Bye."

*Hero*Hero*

Returning to Hogwarts was always a relief, but never more so than now. "Hello Harry. I have managed to reserve a compartment all to myself. Come join me." Luna called out as Harry made his way down the aisle of the Hogwarts Express.

Harry smiled "How did you manage that?" He stuffed his trunk onto the overhead rack and took a seat next to the blond.

"I informed anybody who inquired that I needed the room for my pet Umgubular Slashkilter - they are invisible, you see and they have a foul temper when crowded. If you accidentally sit on their tail they are liable to assault you with their tongue, which is slimy and malodorous. And tipped with a razor sharp claw." Harry let out a sigh of relief - Luna seemed back to her normal self.

"Um," Harry asked tentatively, "do they actually exist?" Harry asked as he slid onto the bench next to his girlfriend / fiance or whatever their relationship was. He let Luna decided - it was safer that way.

"Oh, probably not."

Harry froze, "You mean you're just making this creature up? What about Heliopaths and wrackspurts?" Harry was flabbergasted - Luna admitting that her imaginary creatures were imaginary? He wasn't certain if this was a good thing or a really, really bad one.

"Oh, don't be silly. Heliopaths exist. But the Umgubular Slashkilter went extinct in the 30's... Probably. It's really hard to tell with a creature that is invisible, but it's been decades since the last report of a person being licked to death by something that wasn't there."

Harry smiled. The only thing that was still a niggling worry - they hadn't yet had 'The Talk' that Luna had threatened him with.

*Hero*Hero*

"Harry - I am sorry I haven't been able to make time to talk to you since the events of last semester." Harry smiled as Dumbledore greeted him on the way to his dorm. He still had his carry-all with the stuff he had taken 'home' for over the break.

"It's ok."

"No, it's not, but this whole situation has become very political, and I am constantly being called before various committees to provide advice. It really would save time if they just listened to me the first time." sighed Albus, "But that is not how politicians work. Which is why I am a headmaster instead - students only ignore your advice most of the time." Harry fidgeted with his bag, "But I digress. What I wanted to say is that I was greatly impressed with your organization of the defense of Hogwarts."

"I didn't do anything, sir - it was Neville and Terry."

"Yes, but the training and skills came from you. That said though, I would ask that you not take this sort of thing too far until you have had time to finish your schooling. Once you graduate, though, I would be very happy to have you join the Order of the Phoenix."

"Thank you. I will keep that in mind."

Albus patted Harry on the back. "Good, but remember - no adventures like this until after you graduate."

*Hero*Hero*

At dinner that evening, Harry and Luna had a pocket of space around them in the Great Hall. It wasn't until the end of the meal that Harry noticed that the other students were actively avoiding them. They would give a them a wide berth, and there was a lot of pointing and whispering going on as well.

Which was odd, since they weren't doing anything unusual - even Luna had on her best 'company' manners.

After they got back up to the Ravenclaw Common Room, Harry caught up to Simon in the boys dorms, "Hey, what's up?"

"Not much. How are you and the wifey?"

Harry glanced surreptitiously, but Luna was nowhere in sight. "We're just boyfriend / girlfriend."

"Really? Because the rumor is that the two of you have been secretly married since fourth year, and that you were just playing Hermione and Romilda"

"WHAT? Where did that come from?"

"Word is that it was an arranged marriage, for political gain between your two families."

"My family isn't even wizarding!" Harry slumped onto his bed, shocked at the audacity of whomever came up with such a mean spirited rumor.

"Half of it is."

"But both halves are dead!"

"Not according to the rumor mill" Simon smiled, clearly enjoying seeing Harry squirm.

"And I would never do something like that to Hermione! I loved her!"

Simon shrugged, "Believe what you wish."

Harry spluttered, "It''s not about belief! This my life we are talking about!"

Simon just walked out of the room as Harry threw himself backwards onto his bed in exasperation.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry flipped through the dusty copy of the Daily Prophet. He had been too upset to hang out in the common room, so he had decided to go work on one of his personal projects. But he wasn't working on his plan to hoist Voldemort by his 'Moldy-shorts'. Harry smiled. He would never say something like that out loud – being disparaging of one of the most powerful dark wizards of the past century seemed like the epitome of Hubris. But in the privacy of his own mind, it helped him keep his spirits up.

Harry flipped through the stack from 1981. _'Nothing'_ Harry sighed. He was deep in the stacks of the Hogwarts library, trying to find a lead on the Death Eater that had killed Hermione. He wasn't certain why, anymore. What would he do when he found out? But he needed to know. But the Prophet had almost no photos of the arrested Death Eaters, except for grainy shots of them walking to the courthouse, a brief case held up to their heads to cover their faces from the camera. They barely even named any – other than Dolohove and LeStrange, it was 'alleged Death Eater this' and alleged Death Eater that'. For the Prophet, the fear of a libel law suite was stronger than the fear of Voldemort.

"Well, let's try the Quibbler." If the Quibbler had even been in print back then. Harry walked over to the next set of cabinets and started peeing through the array of newspapers that had been shrunk to the size of a postage stamp. _'This looks promising'_ It was the December edition of the Quibbler, from 1981. The paper HAD existed back then, and it had been a glossy, magazine-like paper.

"Engorgio"

And there he was. The December edition was dedicated to the top Death Eaters. There were paged and pages of large photos – mostly mug shots, but some that had originally been celebrity lifestyle shots. The Quibbler apparently had no fear. The other articles in the newspaper ranged from the salacious to the plain absurd.

"Rudolphos LeStrange" Harry had a name. Now he just had to decide what to do with it.

*Hero*Hero*

"How's it hanging?" Draco walked over to Goyle. The larger teen was packing up his trunk in the Slytherin dorms, "you ok? I hear you got ripped up pretty good."

Goyle put a stack of shirts on top of the carefully wrapped flask of wolvesbane potion. "Yeah, but I'll live." He continued to pack. Draco fiddled with some of the junk on Nott's desk, "Why are you here? I thought you would be downstairs with your cronies, at the 'back to school' party."

"Yeah, well" Draco put the miniature of a stooping falcon back on Notts desk, "They're all talking about purifying the bloodlines, and getting rid of Mudbloods and the usual." Draco picked up the miniature again and dropped it onto the desk, "But they don't seem to get that they are talking about killing people, people we might know. Like other students." He dropped the miniature again, but upside down. This time it broke. Draco nudged the pieces off to one side, so that they were jammed under the pile of random papers that threatened to swallow the desk. "I can't do that anymore."

Goyle nodded, and relaxed a bit, "Not all Slytherins are like the loud mouths. Take Hestia Carrow - the only reason I'm alive is because she kept casting healing charms on me as I was wrestling with that werewolf."

"Great." Draco rolled his eyes and forced a smile, "So now my peer group consists of one fourth year girl who's can't speak without stuttering half the time. The only reason that wallflower is even in Slytherin is because of who her uncle is."

Goyle shrugged. "That's true for a lot of us. It's true for me"

"Hey" Draco finally noticed something, "Why are you packing up?"

Greg stopped, stunned, "You really don't know?"

"I spent the break holed up at Hogwarts - I'm kind of out of the loop." That, and the fact that he had spent most of his time moping in the Room of Requirements.

"There was a huge stink over winter break - a lot of parents didn't want their kids going to school with a werewolf. The only reason I was allowed to return to Hogwarts is because of the example set by Prof Lupin, back when he was a kid. But the condition was that I don't live in the Slytherin dorms."

"So, what, they're shifting you to Gryffindor or something?"

"No, I'm still a Slytherin, but I'm going to be living in one of the rooms reserved for visitors."

"Oh, that sucks."

Greg smirked, "Not really - Hannah going to be moving in with me."

Draco's mouth dropped open. "And Dumbledore is ok with this?"

"He doesn't know about it yet. Or possibly ever, if Hannah manages to talk a few of her friends into covering for her."

"Dude. That will never work. You'll get caught inside of a month, and then you'll get expelled."

Goyle continued to smile a 'I know something you don't' smirk - usually a sure sign that he was overestimating himself again, "I have a plan B."

*Hero*Hero*

It was almost curfew, and the party in the 'Claw common room was winding down. Harry was back, sitting on the couch with Luna, watching the fire.

"Harry!" Ron called out as he and Neville came in "Sounds like you had an exciting winter break."

He and Neville had decided to drop by to check up on Harry. Partly because of the rumors that he had gotten attacked by Death Eaters over break. Partly because of rumors about Luna that were likely to have him be attacked by the half the female population.

"Yeah. Oh! While you're here, I got something for you guys." Harry pulled out a pair of plaques from his trunk. They were engraved with 'for exemplary valor in the defense of Hogwarts'. "I got one for Terry also, and buttons for the rest of the DA. I figured you should have some sort of award for what you guys did last term. And I know the teachers aren't going to do anything, because they don't approve of students actually taking care of themselves."

"Thanks!" Ron almost glowed with pride.

"Yeah, this is really cool," added Neville before handing his back, "But you should hand them out at the first DA meeting of the year. Make it into a ceremony." As the three teens started talking about the DA, The door opened again.

"Hey, look who's back!" called out Ron as Terry walked in to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Yeah, I'm back, and as good as new!" Terry held up his new prosthetic - except for the fact that it was bronze colored, you couldn't tell where the fake arm ended and Terry began. The teen smiled happily as all heads turned towards him.

"Cool!" Ron rushed over and shook hands with the prosthetic. "Hey - since it's not really part of you, do you think you could stop an AK with it?"

Terry blanch, "I have no plans to find out!" He turned to Harry, "Uhm, I think I'm going to take a more low key role in the DA for a while, until I get this arm thing 100% worked out," he mumbled sheepishly.

"No problem!" Harry smiled, glad that Terry wasn't angry with him. He still felt it was his fault that he had gotten hurt - if he had done a better job training the DA...

"Don't worry - I'll keep Harry safe" Luna had been sitting quietly by Harry's side, not saying much, just enjoying being part of a social gathering.

Neville's eyes darted to the 'Blond Bellatrix', "Harry, can I have a moment?" He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him over to the study corals, "Harry, you need to do something. I talked to Romilda, and explained your side of the story, but she's still pretty upset, and you know how she is when she's pissed."

Actually, Harry had no clue, "I don't know what I can do. Whenever I try to apologize to her, she walks away, And she's usually surrounded by her clique, so it's not like I can talk to her in private. Is there anything you can do?"

"I'm doing it." Neville replied, exasperated at Harry's complete lack of social abilities. "Look, write an apology and I will deliver it to her when I next see her."

"When you NEXT see her?"

"Yeah" Neville shrugged half heartedly, "I figure if I hang out with her some, it will distract her from bad mouthing you, Luna and the DA. Because it's only a matter of time before somebody takes her seriously and shuts us down."

"What's she saying about the DA?"

Neville scowled and waved it away, "I'll deal with that. That's the easy part. It's Luna that's the real rumor magnet. Everybody knows she's a little… odd, but now people are starting to think she's dangerously insane, and that you must be too, by proximity."

Harry's expression hardened. "Are saying that I should ditch her?"

"No! Not at all! But it's a matter of time before somebody starts talking about the DA being run by a crazy person." Neville quickly backpedaled. He knew this conversation wasn't going to work out, but he had to try.

"So…"

"So it occurs to me that it might be a good idea to distance Luna from the DA. You can't have her teaching any more."

Harry relaxed "I don't think that will be a problem - she always gets so nervous when she has to teach. She hates being the center of attention."

"Well, keep it that way. And I'll remind people of the good the DA did last year."

Harry nodded, "You know, you should go into politics. Half the stuff you brought up, I didn't even realize could be a problem."

Neville smiled, "Nah - I'm too shy. I gotta go - it's almost curfew."

Harry nodded. He watched as Neville collected Ron (who had been flirting with Padma), said his goodbyes, and headed out the door. "Shy, my right patooti.'

*Hero*Hero*

As Harry sat down in Ancient Runes, the hairs on the back of his neck prickled and stood on end. Harry quickly cast surreptitious glances to the left and right. Everything seemed ok. Just the usual mix of third and fourth year students, with a couple upper years.

But there was something off. Harry looked around - all the girls were giving him angry looks. And there were the whispers.

"What he did to Romilda.."

"I know! I can't believe.."

"That Blond Bellatrix.."

Harry sank down in his chair, trying to put something between him and them.

"Good afternoon, class" professor Babbling came in, "Lets get started right away with implicit meanings." she picked up a piece of chalk and started writing several runes on the blackboard, "This is Old Norse for 'steed', but as you can see with these runes, there is the connotation of.." she lectured, oblivious to the fact that if her students had laser eyes, Harry's brain would have been boiled in his skull.

*Hero*Hero*

"What happened?" Harry asked as he came down to breakfast. students were all congregating in clusters and talking instead of sitting at the tables.

"Another Death Eater attack. This time it was Oxley, in Cheshire. several shops were burnt." Terry whispered, as if he was at a funeral.

Harry nodded grimly. An image of Hermione falling dead in front of him flashed before his eyes. _'Voldemort. He killed her. Or His trained attack dog did. And it's not going to stop until he's gone.' _Harry looked around the great hall. There was one of the fourth years from the DA talking in quiet whispers to his friend. There was Martin Bradley from the quidditch team. Usually he sprawled over two seats, acting like he was the top dog, without a care to his name. Now he was sitting quiet as a mouse. _'I can't let him do this to us.'_

*Hero*Hero*

Harry didn't know what to expect in DADA, with Professor Snape dead. But when Harry arrived, Remus Lupin was in the DADA classroom, making last minute notes on the blackboard.

The students all filed in and took their usual seats. Draco cast a quick glance at Harry before sitting down behind Goyle. He and Harry hadn't talked much since the confrontation in the infirmary last year, except for Harry to periodically reassure Draco that his plan was still on track (though he refused to divulge any details).

"Hello again" Remus Lupin smiled, "I will be covering Defense Against the Dark arts for the remainder of the year. Don't worry about falling behind - I will be following Professor Snape's syllabus. He left copious notes" After all, Severus had been planning on how he would teach DADA (if he ever got the chance) for the past ten years.

"I hear that many of you are practicing defensive spell casting on your own, so we will skim through that quickly, just to make sure that you're on track, before he start on to Werewolves" After the attack last semester, Professor Lupin felt it was time to come out of the closet. And as an added bonus, it might help that Goyle boy.

*Hero*Hero*

As class let out, Remus came up to Harry. "How are you doing with those Occlumency exercises I gave you?"

"Pretty good, professor. I haven't had any more dreams like.. those dreams." Harry skipped mentioning that the Voldemort-created dreams had been replaced by nightmares all of his own creation, featuring Hermione or sometimes even Cedric.

"Ok… good. Um, Harry, can we talk sometime?"

"Sure professor" Harry gave Lupin a fake smile "Maybe later - I have to go". He didn't dislike the DADA teacher, but Harry's ability to trust strangers was worn thin.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry slumped down in the Ravenclaw common room. It was right before dinnertime, and people were rushing from dorms to the Great Hall, but nobody actually was hanging out in the common room.

"You ok?" Asked Terry, "You don't look so good"

"I'm fine. Mostly. It's just getting the silent treatment from half the school is surprisingly unpleasant." Harry shrugged, "I figured that they would just ignore me, like last year, but no, there are glares and the half heard little comments. I feel like some sort of outcast."

"Not to the DA you're not. We don't care about your personal life." Terry slapped Harry on the back, "You can screw whomever you want, as long as you continue to lead the DA."

"I'm not!" Harry shot up out of his chair.

"Don't worry - we understand that great leaders don't follow the same social rules as regular guys." Terry walked out towards the great hall.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry folded up the letter from Adam Loew.

"So what does he say?" Luna leaned up next to him as the two were studying by the fire in the 'claw common room.

They were sitting on the floor, reclining against a couch as Harry went over all the ideas that he was working on to try to nail Voldemort before that psycho killed any more of his friends. So far, he had lots of ideas, but he wasn't certain how to make them all fit together into a cohesive plan. _'How did I end up the leader of the good guys? Oh, right - because nobody else gives a rat's ass about stopping the Dark Wanker.'_ Luna was just enjoying the company and the warmth - she was wiggling her toes right near the fire.

"He says that he'll have the bottle ready in about a month. And he said that he's not going to charge me for it, which is a load off of my mind, because I looked up how much a project like this usually costs, and there is NO way that my school stipend would have covered it. I'd have had to hit up Terry for the money or take up a collection or something."

"If you need any more money for anything, I have some weaseled away for a rainy day. It's from a trust fund that my mother set up before she passed away."

"Weaseled? You mean squirreled."

"Why on earth would I try to emulate a squirrel?" Luna sat and looked indignantly at Harry.

"But.. Squirrels are the ones that stash nuts away for the winter, so putting something away for later is squirreling it away."

"No, it isn't! Squirrels are like those Gryffindor girls - they hide their nuts without a thought in their little heads and promptly forget where they hid them. Then, they go bounding about like furry little morons checking all the likely hiding places. Half the time, they end up stealing some other poor squirrels stash, because they're too stupid to tell the difference!" She got up, looking honestly upset "Where are my shoes?" Before Harry could reply that he hadn't seen her take any off, she threw on a pair and stomped off.

"Hey, what happened to my shoes?" Nola asked from the neighboring couch, as she looked around in confusion.

*Hero*Hero*

"Luna!" Harry rushed after his girlfriend, "Sorry about that - I didn't mean to upset you." He caught up to her in the hallway outside the Ravenclaw dorms.

She gave him a chaste peck on the cheek, "Yeah, I'm sorry too - I over reacted" she glanced quizzically down at her shoes.

"About the trust fund - I thought your family didn't have much money?"

"We don't - that's supposed to pay for the next two years of Hogwarts, but I figure I can pass the NEWTs even if I study on my own." As Harry's mouth dropped open in surprise, Luna cast an Engorgio on her shoes. "That's better" She leaned in conspiratorially, "I think somebody shrank my shoes again." She shook her head in amusement at the silly pranks her classmates pulled. "Since we're up, want to get some hot coco?"

"Sure, why not." of all the possible replies to what had transpired in the past five minutes, this seemed the safest.

It was good to have his relationship with Luna being back to normal, at least. Maybe she had forgotten about 'The Talk'.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry made his way up to the headmaster's office. Last semester, Harry had been working closely with Albus on his search for the Horcrux, but this semester, except for the brief conversation in the hallway, Dumbledore had been keeping Harry at arms length, as if afraid to encourage him too much. Which suited Harry fine. Harry had withdrawn to just his small circle of friends, like back before fourth year. It was the only way he could deal with the chaos that was Hogwarts - the gossip, the anger over petty slights. And the pain of the great hurts from last semester.

Harry knocked.

"Harry! Come in, come in. Lemon drop?" Albus bubbled, his normal grandfatherly self.

"No, thank you."

"Well, in that case, I don't mind if I do" Albus picked out a promising candy from the dish, "I called you up to see if you were game in accompanying me to explore another site associated with Tom riddle - it's a series of caves in the forbidden forest that he apparently used as a base of operations when he was a student here.

"What about the locket?"

"That one I recovered over winter break - several members of the Order of the Phoenix helped me prepare for the trials. Unfortunately, it was a fake."

"Huh. that stinks." _'Would have been nice to keep me in the loop'_, " What do you think you will find in the forbidden forest?"

"Honestly, I don't know. At the very least, it will give us a better understanding of Tom."

Harry nodded. _' I'm not his shrink - All I need to know about that psycho are his tactics.' _But Harry had long experience with not let his thoughts show ion his face, "Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll pass. I have a lot of revision to do for class."

"Are you certain?" Albus asked, looking Harry intently in the eyes.

'_He's a Legilimens!' _Harry thought in horror as he recognized the intent look from Remus' descriptions. _'I'm not his dog, to call when he pleases, but otherwise to push aside. And now he's reading my mind!'_. He recalled his training with Remus, and let his anger build, "I don't want to get involved in this any more." Harry channeled his anger with Voldemort, and his growing frustration with Albus into that thought, _'Dumbledore is like Voldemort - neither of them care about anybody else.'_ He also avoided looking at the Headmaster.

Albus stared at him for a moment before giving a small nod. "Very well, that is your choice. If you ever wish to change your mind, just come to my office."

"Ok." Harry got up his posture radiating anger.

Albus gave a small smile as the teen departed.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry finished cleaning up after potions and headed out the door, avoiding the other students. They would just waste his time. They had gotten over the worst of the 'glare Harry to death' phase, but who knew what new idea would pop into their heads. He had too much work to do to worry about their little dramas.

As soon as he was out the door, he was intercepted by Neville. "I got the candles. Mind telling me what they are for?" He held out a parcel wrapped in paper.

Harry made it disappear into his bag, "It's for the plan."

"Harry, you need to confide in somebody," Neville said in exasperation. "You keep saying that you have a plan for how to take down Voldemort. Now I'm not saying that it won't work, but I am certain that if you have a couple people help you go over it, they can make it better." And probably find stupid assumptions that would keep the idea from ever working. Neville was worried that Harry was getting delusions of grandeur. The two boys were heading towards the Room of Requirements - they both had a free, and it was a good time to prep the room for this evening's DA meeting. It was one of the few times Neville had a chance to talk to Harry without Luna hanging on his arm.

"I'll let people know once I have confirmed a few things - I just got a book on blood magic from Sirius, and unless that pans out, I don't think my plan is workable." Harry was being mysterious because he was scared that if he explained his reasoning, his friends would tell him he was being stupid, that a sixteen year old boy had no chance to take out a monster like Voldemort. And they didn't even know about the Horcruxes.

Harry stepped into the Room. It was mostly all set, but some things had to be re-arranged. Harry put up a row of targets for the advanced students to work with. This semester, Harry had scaled back the DA: they were working on basic offensive / defensive casting and not trying anything fancy. Just increased accuracy and power, as well as working in pairs (so that one person was casting offensively with the other cast Protegos and other defensive spells).

The DA had changed after the battle of Hogwarts. For one thing, almost every single Gryffindor had signed up, for another, the Ravenclaws stopped pushing for cool new techniques. Some had dropped out, but most, like Terry, had opted to stay, but drop their leadership roles. There was no pretending it was a study group anymore.

"Are we all set?" Ron came into the Room of Requirements, a soft pretzel in his hand. It was a good thing he was so athletic, otherwise, with the way he ate, he would be a large, redheaded sphere.

"Pretty much. You want to take the beginners through their basics?" Neville asked.

"Certain you don't want to?" Ron smirked, "Romilda is in that group."

"Wait - what?" Harry's head whipped around in confusion. "What about Romilda?"

"Oh.. just that Nev's been spending an AWEFULL lot of time with her."

"That is just to stop her spreading rumors, right?" Harry looked inquisitively at Neville.

Neville blushed beet red.

"Right?" Harry repeated imploringly. "She's evil - she nearly destroyed the DA and has been harassing Luna all winter."

"She's not that bad," Neville replied, not looking up. "She's very sweet, If you're on her good side."

Ron nodded, "sweet." and mimed a large curve jutting from his chest.

Neville just blushed harder.

"Oh, Merlin", Harry sat down. "My best friend is sleeping with the enemy."

Ron decided to come to his housemates defense: "I don't think they are sleeping together yet. You're thinking of Goyle."

"Oh, look, students!" Neville quickly interrupted as a pair of fourth year Hufflepuff came in, "Lets get started!"

*Hero*Hero*

"Hey, Luna, do you want to go up to the astronomy tower?" Harry asked, sitting down next to the blond. Dinner had just finished and miracle of miracles, he didn't have any homework. He figured it was a good time to spend some 'personal time' with his girlfriend.

Luna put her essay away, "why don't we stay here?" she rearranged herself so that she could rest her feet on Harry's lap.

Harry quirked any eyebrow. It wasn't the most romantic gesture, but very Luna. "But it's more private up there."

Luna waived the comment away, "Privacy is over-rated"

'_Those rumors are really getting to Luna,' _Harry sighed, '_She hasn't been herself.'_ It had taken a while, as Harry was a little dense at interpersonal stuff, but he had noticed that his girlfriend had become more withdrawn, less exuberant, less... intimate.

Which sucked. He was no Sirius, but it would still be nice to snuggle and maybe do a little bit more.

"Wait a minute!" Harry ran up to his dorm to get the portkey that Sirius had owled him at the end of last term. What with the attack and everything, he had never gotten around to using it. He was back down within minutes.

"Hey, Luna, grab a cloak, I want to show you something." Luna cocked her head to the side, in the hopes that the new angle would let her see into Harry's mind.

Harry power walked until he was out of the castle and part way around the lake. Luna drifted along, skipping to keep up. "It's a little late to be looking for Gulping Plimpys, Harry."

"It's only eight o'clock. I have a special treat for you. " Harry held out the piece of string, "Hold on to this."

Luna looked skeptically at the string, like it would bite her, then, with a shrug, she took the other end.

The portkey spun them through the air, to the alley next to the comic store that Harry and Sirius favored, except this time, Harry led the way down the street to a shop that sold cheap jewelry, "I thought you might like to take a break from the wizarding world: this is a store where Muggle girls buy necklaces and things."

As they stepped into the store, Luna bounced in glee "Look, look, look!" she bounded over to the 'build your own necklace counter, "This is perfect for engraving. And these!" she held up a pair of charms that looked like pieces of an orange soda can.

"Is that good for runes as well?" Harry asked with trepidation. This was not a store for teenage boys. There were displays of hoop earring and necklaces and clip on earrings and plastic rings and regular earrings and nose studs and... it was just not a place for boys.

"No, but it's so pretty!"

Harry smiled and nodded. It was a piece of crumpled orange metal. "What about those earrings?" he pointed to a pair of hoops big enough to use in a game of basketball.

"Harry, those are a trifle large, don't you think?"

Harry shrugged apologetically, "I don't know anything about this sort of stuff. This isn't the type of store I have ever been in before."

Luna paused, as if realizing something. "This.. This is very sweet of you." She picked up a slightly smaller set of hoops. "These are just right, though."

The two teens spent an hour browsing. Everything looked trashy and cheap to Harry, but Luna was on cloud nine, bouncing from display to to display, holding up earring and asking Harry if they matched her hair. Harry could almost see the tension melting away, leaving unadulterated Luna.

She was like a squirrel, darting back and forth. And the nuttier something looked, the more she liked it. "A pair of these will look very dashing pinned over my breast pockets." She held up two dangling things made up of strips of metal right over her breasts.

"Luna, those are earrings!"

"And who says I don't have ears over here?"

Harry blushed all the way to purple, unable to reply.

"How about you?" Luna held up the earrings to Harry's ears.

Harry stood patiently, an embarrassed half smile on his face. "I don't think they are my style."

"True - too big. You should have a small ring, like a pirate, in your right ear." She put the earring back. "Or, I know!" she held a titanium chain (guaranteed not to be allergenic) , "This will be much better to hold you enchanted medallion. Titanium is much stronger than the cheap silver thing you are using right now. It'll be my birthday present for you."

"You don't have to," Harry looked embarrassed.

"Yes I do. I never got you anything for your birthday. Besides, I don't want anything to happen to you."

Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he took Luna's hand.

Finally, as Luna ran out of things that she could explore one handed, they paid for their purchases and stepped out of the store. Luna looked up at Harry, "That was the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me." She hugged Harry.

Harry put an arm around Luna as the teens walked back towards the alley from whence they could portkey without being observed

"Happy un-Birthday" Harry held up a little bag with a pair of the orange metal.. things that had attracted Luna's attention at the very start.

"Oh, Harry" Luna gave Harry a kiss. Harry wrapped an arm around her head and pulled her in. Just then, she pushed away, "Now, now Harold. None of that." She adjusted he clothes as she refused to meet Harry's eyes.

"What?" Harry wasn't certain what went wrong. One moment Luna was making out with him, the next she had practically teleported away and was maintaining a 'proper' Victorian separation.

"Let's portkey back to school, Harold" Luna said stiffly, not looking up from the ground.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry set his bag down and spread out his notes. Potions was next, and they were going to be doing some really serious brewing this year. While he missed Snape's caustic comments to the other students, it was nice to be able to talk to his classmates during class without fear of being verbally flayed to within an inch of his life. And there were fewer cauldron explosions, as the tension in the room was much lower in general.

But the report of another Death Eater attack last night was distraction enough

"Today we will be working on the the Draught of Living Death. As we discussed last class, the Sopophorous beans need to be handled with care, as they are extremely tricky to cut" Professor Slughorn walked around the classroom. "Pull out your notes on the procedure which you wrote up as homework and please begin."

As Ernie started sorting out the ingredients, Harry pulled out the small wooden clamp that the Weasley twins had recommended he use. He painstakingly loaded in a bean and clamped it gently before slicing it with his silver knife. He then opened the vice, brushed the bean bits into a pile and loaded the next bean.

"Harry - that will take forever, and half the pieces are too large." Ernie complained.

"No, I think they are small enough." As Harry bent over his contraption, a bean landed in his hair. He looked up in puzzlement: Susan Bones was looking under her cutting board, and several other students were struggling to keep their beans from flying off as well.

"This way is slow, but we'll get all of the bean into the potion, instead of on our hands." Harry didn't trust the twins for much, but potion making was the one spot where their pride in their skills won over pranking. And they were some of the most talented Potions brewers that Hogwarts had produced since Severus Snape.

"Professor, what happens if there isn't enough of the Sopophorous bean juice in the potion?" this was from Hannah, as she watched in despair as her partner recovered the mauled remains of yet another bean off of the floor.

"Without the bean juice, the potion will make the drinker nauseous and feverish, as if they had a particularly nasty stomach flu. The symptoms will last for eight hours." Slughorn commented, "I suspect that it is used in some of the Weasley Whizzes products that have been hitting Zonko's recently."

Harry stood up from his cutting board, and a slow smile spread across his face. '_That will work.'_

*Hero*Hero*

"URK!" Harry was forcibly dragged into an empty classroom as he was heading to lunch.

"Harry" Draco whispered, "what's the deal? You said you had some way to get Voldemort out of Malfoy House, so that I could go home without being killed?" Draco had finally revealed that Voldemort was using his parents mansion as his base of operation.

"I'm working on it." Harry straightened his collar he checked that the door to the corridor was closed, "I just need one more item and the we can start organizing the attack."

"So, what's the plan?" Draco pleaded.

"I will tell you when everything is ready. It's not you - I'm not telling anybody, because the less that anybody know, the less chance that somebody will accidentally spill the beans."

"I bet Luna knows," Draco sulked.

"Actually, I don't know what Luna knows. She hasn't asked about my plans - she trusts me." Harry cast a pointed glance at Draco, "But she IS really smart, so she might have figured them out on her own." Harry lauded his girlfriend. 'O_f course, knowing Luna, she might have added a step involving Nargles mating with Heliopaths to her visualization of the plan.'_

"Fine" Draco was not happy. "Just tell me what I have to do."

"Your job will be to open the door to the Malfoy mansion and help a person sneak in."

"Who? You?"

"Maybe" Harry replied cryptically.

"You really think you can take Voldemort, even if you catch him by surprise?"

"Well, maybe if I catch him with his pants down. Say, as he's sitting on the toilet…" Harry looked thoughtful, "Do wizards read the newspaper when the go to the bathroom?"

"So you're going to sneak in and off Voldemort as he's doing number two? How are you going to sneak into the toilet - the door is going to be locked… I KNEW IT! You're a cockroach animagus!"

"I can't confirm anything" Harry smirked, "I need to get to lunch. I'll be in touch."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry tapped his shoe as he waited for Luna. it was Hogsmeads weekend, and the two teens were planning to rendezvous with Adam Loew to pick up some supplies for Harry's grand scheme (which he still refused to share with anybody) before spending the afternoon together. Most of this past semester, they had been just hanging out casually. They hadn't gone on any official dates other the weird one to the jewelry shop.

Harry glanced anxiously at his watch. Given how odd Luna had acted during THAT, Harry was understandably nervous. And the fact that Luna was taking forever didn't help _'She isn't blowing this out of proportion is she? It's supposed to be a casual date.'_ Harry looked at his watch again, _'What am I think - OF COURSE she's blowing it out of proportion.' _He looked up from his watch just in time to see Luna coming down the stairs dressed in very proper dress. It almost looked like business attire.

"Um…" Harry looked her up and down, "That isn't what I expected. It looks good, though!" Harry quickly added.

"We are going to have a business meeting first, so I thought I would look the part. I can always transfigure my clothes to something more casual afterwards."

Harry quirked an eyebrow. Transfigured clothing often didn't fit right, "Are you certain that's a good idea?"

Luna shrugged, and replied nonchalantly "It's no big deal if the clothing doesn't quite cover everything. You're going to be the only one watching."

It was a sunny and mild winter day, of the sort that comes unexpectedly, making old Father Winter seem like an decent sort of chap. The walk down to the village was filled with strolling students, in cliques, couples and a few solitaries.

"Look, a snow angel!" Luna pointed to a statue of a winged woman somebody had cast out of snow. She skipped around it before coming back to grab Harry's arm "Maybe I should make one!" She whipped out her wand and with a couple of gestures, pulled together another snow sculpture, which towered over the snow angel. It had several tentacle-like appendages jutting from its mouth and bat wings. "It's a snow devil!" she laughed. "I was going to make a snow Heliopath, but I realized that it would just melt right away."

Several students passing by gave the statues startled looks. When they saw Luna, though, the looks became less startled and more knowing. Harry put his arm around Luna's waist as they continued down the hill.

They made it to the the Three Broomsticks in time for their appointment with Adam. The large gentleman was just settling in as they arrived.

"Hello Harry." He stood up and extended his hand to shake, "You look well. Have you been training?" He was dressed, as usual, in a slightly threadbare tweed suite stretched over his gargantuan frame, with a dockworkers cap planted firmly on his head. He looked like a laborer from the last century.

"Yeah, I've been keeping up with it, but with everything else that's going on, I don't feel like I am making much forward progress anymore," Harry lamented.

"Hmm." Adam smiled, "I'll see what I can do. Maybe a seminar over the summer for you and your friends."

"That would be great!"

"Maybe I could try as well." Luna added. Harry opened his mouth to protest when Adam nodded, "I don't see why not." Harry's mouth snapped shut. There was no reason that Luna shouldn't learn martial arts, but it somehow seemed wrong, like a cat with gills.

"But I can not stay long - I have a meeting with the London Rabbinical Court in about an hour." He pulled out a bag containing a padded box. "Here is what you asked for. And as per your request, I have tried to keep quiet about it, but I did have to collaborate with my chavrusa on this. He is a talented kabbalist."

Harry took the bag, carefully casting a glance about to see if anybody was observing them. The pub was full of chattering teens, none of whom were paying the slightest attention to them.

"Harry, please stay in touch. and floo me if you have any problems. I want to help with your enterprise." Adam shook hands again before grabbing his overcoat.

Luna turned to Harry, "We should find somewhere private where I can get into something more comfortable."

Harry blushed a deep crimson, "Uhm, Ah, Luna, do you know what that phrase usually means when, you know, somebody says it like that?"

Luna cocked her head and was just about to reply when there was the sound of screaming from outside and the sound of spellfire '_Oh, no not again!' _Harry pulled out his wand and made for the exit. Luna had the presence of mind to grab the bag before following.

The scene outside was pure chaos. Students were running for cover as a squad of Death Eaters stood in front of a bakery on the next intersection, casting sickly green killing curses in all directions. A few students returned fire. Spells bounced off of Protegos and physical shields, and whenever they hit the ground, they flung the fine snow up into the air in a spray.

Harry wasn't even certain how many opponents there were when he spotted Adam charging the closest one. He twisted out of the way as a bight yellow curse came at him, and then ducked under a reducto. The large man was just paces away when the panicky Death Eater cast "Avada Kedavra!" The green light of the killing curse struck the huge man solidly in the chest.

"NO!" Harry charged the Death Eaters, all his carefully thought out tactics forgotten.

"Harry!" Luna called out after, before transfiguring the snow near him into a white wall, to block the spells that would indubitably be cast at him, but she did not have time for anything more, as a Death Eater cast a killing curse at her, and she had to defend herself.

As she darted for the (questionable) cover of an evergreen bush, she swished her wand, sending a flight of sparrows up out of the snow to circle the Death Eater who was confronting her. As he swatted at the annoying distractions, she transfigured the shrub in front of her into a desk, which she promptly toppled onto its side and hid behind as another Avada Kedavra splashed onto it.

Another wave of her wand, and the Death Eater was faced with a pair of snowy bear dogs lunging for his throat. He threw himself to the side and Reducto-ed one as the other latched onto his foot. He Finite Incantatemed that one before it bit his foot off.

As his gaze turned back towards Luna, the remaining snow sparrows plunged from the air, transforming into razor sharp icicles at the last moment. He had just a moment to look up in surprised realization before they embedded themselves into him with a staccato 'thuck thuck thuck', hitting with enough force to pin his body to the frozen ground.

At the same time, the building behind the Death Eaters exploded in a spray of glass and flying bricks, sending them into disarray. As one Death Eater staggered away, looking over his shoulder, he ran right up to Adam Loew, who's massive fist hit him in the head with the impact of a small car.

More spells began to rain down on the Death Eaters. One of them yelled, "Let's go" and they all popped out of existence, one after the other.

Luna staggered up to her feet from her crouch behind the transfigured desk.

"Where's Harry?" she demanded, "And why aren't you dead?"

Adam Loew looked around the intersection. At least a half dozen people lay scattered on the ground, and rubble from the bakery covered more. "The killing curse does not have much affect on me." he rumbled quietly, "But I fear for Harry"

*Hero*Hero*

Luna walked dazedly from body to body, steeling herself before peering at each face to see if one of them was Harry.

Adam took her elbow as she tried to continue further up the street "Luna, he's not here, not unless he's under the rubble" He pointed to where a group of wizards were quickly levitating off the rubble to see if anybody was trapped beneath.

"He's not there. I'm going to go look for him." She was pulled up short when Adam didn't let go of her arm. She looked puzzled.

"Where are you going to go look? Wait until we have more information."

Luna paused, and then hesitantly nodded. As she sat down, she collapsed in on herself, hunching so small that she looked like little girl.

* * *

><p>This story is almost done - only a few more chapters to go. So let me know what you think of it.<p> 


	10. Chapter 9

I love reviews, and I especially like it when you sign in bore reviewing, so that I can reply. One anonymous reviewer asked: 'Are we supposed to like Luna? I sure don't. She's unstable and cruel.'

My answer: yes, she is. And becoming more so. As to whether you like her, that's up to you. How Harry will respond to this is still an open question.

* * *

><p>START<p>

Harry had just snapped the Death Eater's wand (along with maybe a finger) when he felt the distinctive whirling of an activated portkey. He clutched tighter to the Death Eater's robe and popped him one in the nose as they landed in a clear spot in dense forest. It looked like the Forbidden Forest, but it could have been Siberia, for all Harry knew.

"Where are we?" he demanded. The Death eater had landed on his rear, and was holding one hand to his nose. When he didn't reply, Harry again demanded, "where did you portkey us?" _'Luna's all alone back there!' _Harry was starting to panic. The idea that his girlfriend was facing off against a squad of Death Eaters all on her own scared him spitless. _'And it won't occur to her to retreat.'_

*Hero*Hero*

Adam came back out with a cup of mulled butterbeer for Luna, only to find the teen gone. From his height, he could see over the heads of the Aurors trying to bring order to the chaos that had descended onto Hogsmead, but the blond girl was nowhere to be seen.

*Hero*Hero*

"Hello Vincent, do you want a cake?"

Crabbe had just walked out of the Slytherin dorms when he was confronted by Luna. He was somewhat puzzled - she was standing in the doorway of a classroom, holding out a cake to him, smiling, but her face was dirty and tear stained, and her hair looked like a cauldron had just exploded in her face.

Something in the back of his head screamed 'Danger'. She wiggled the cake. It was chocolate, straight from Honeydukes. Unfortunately for him, Vincent wasn't known as the smartest Slytherin. He stepped forward and took hold of the platter.

Luna let him have the platter and stepped back into the classroom. As Vincent's other hand closed on a piece, she wiggled her wand, and a gap opened in the cake and the opening lunged for Crabbe's hand, biting down.

"Ow. What are you doing?"

"Turn about is fair play. I imagine that a little piggy like you has eaten many, MANY cakes."

The cake squeezed tighter on his fist. Vincent tried to push it off with his free hand, but the cake swallowed that hand too.

Luna slammed the classroom door closed and cast Muffliato. "So it is only natural that the cake would want some revenge."

"OWW!"

"Tell me where my Harry is, or I let the cake eat you." Luna smiled down at the fat boy as he crouched down, desperately trying to scrape off the vicious chocolate confection.

"I don't know where Harry is."

"Your father was part of the group of Death Eaters that attacked Hogsmead just a little bit ago. They took Harry. So you will tell me where they took him."

"How do you know my father was there?"

"I tipped up his mask. I know what he looks like."

Vincent's heart plummeted, "he was captured?"

"Don't be silly," Luna cocked her head as if examining an odd creature, "I killed him. Just like I will kill you if you don't give me back my Harry."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry was just getting up from knocking unconscious the Death Eater when there was a series of pops a few feet away, and three more Death Eaters apparated in. By pure luck, none were facing him. Harry swished his wand at himself and mouthed "Wingardium Leviosa", leaping at the same time. One of the Death Eaters turned at the slight sound, but he was still disoriented from apparating in, so all he noticed was one of the vines over the clearing shake as Harry brushed by it.

"There is something here!" A fat Death Eater yelped.

"Lawrence is out cold - something attacked him." a second Death Eater knelt down next to the unconscious man that Harry had incapacitated, "wasn't he wrestling with a student before we apparated?"

"Finate Incatatem!" the fat one cast in all directions. "Nobody is dissillusioned."

"Maybe it's just a wild animal?" asked the third hopefully.

"Wands out. I don't know what it is, or much care. it could be dangerous. Rhodian, you Levicorpus Lawrence to the mansion."

Harry watched from his perch up in the tree. He was balanced precariously where he had landed. He didn't dare move, else he might attract lethal attention. '_Please leave. Please leave,'_ he chanted silently. His legs were starting to feel numb from crouching. He still had no idea where he was, but he figured he could resolve that problem AFTER the Death Eaters left. Which they were in the process of doing when his foot slipped.

"It's up there!" pointed the shorter Death Eater, turning towards the sound.

"Reducto" Harry blasted the ground below him, spraying dirt and snow over the Death Eaters. As they staggered back and covered their eyes, Harry dropped back to the ground on the other side of the tree and immediately rolled under a bush.

Several Reductos smashed into the tree he had been hiding in, blasting off branches. Harry covered his head with an arm to protect himself from the debris.

"Did we get him? asked a Death eater.

"I don't see a body." the fat Death Eater circled around to Harry's side of the tree, still looking up at the (now blasted) tree.

"Accio tree" Harry whispered. The spell tried to bring the tree to Harry. Since that wasn't physically possible, Harry was flung forward toward the tree. He would have slammed face first into it, except for two facts: One: he tucked his shoulder in, and two: the fat Death Eater was in the way. Harry slammed his shoulder straight into the back of the Fat Death Eater, who collapsed with a gasp.

"Thorfinn?" asked one of the remaining Death Eaters. He cautiously circled the tree. Before he came into sight, Harry again cast Accio, pulling himself straight up into the tree top.

"He's up in the tree still!" yelled the short Death eater, raising his wand.

"Lumos!" Harry closed his eyes, releasing a blinding flash of light right in shorty's face. The short Death Eater staggered back as the flash momentarily blinded him. Harry ran out along the branch he was standing on. As it bowed under his weight, he Accio'ed the neighboring pine. Once there, he pivoted on the tiny foothold he landed on and cast an Expelliarmus at the closest Death Eater. The spell missed.

That Death Eater spun around, yelling "Cover me". As the short Death eater started casting curses at the tree Harry was hiding in, the one that had asked for covering fire cast a levitation spell, to gain a better vantage point. Harry hunkered down as spells whizzed by on either side of him. As the Death Eater flew up, Harry calmly cast "Stupefy" and dropped off his branch. And a good thing he did - the Death Eater providing covering fire cast a flame spell at where Harry had been a moment ago. Harry barely managed to catch himself on a lower branch, landing hard enough to knock the wind out of him. He scrambled up onto it as the tree smoldered and smoked above him.

"Can you see him? gasped the fat Death Eater, in obvious pain.

"No, he's too fast. I think he has flying magic."

"Impossible. No student could master something that advanced."

"Well, maybe he has a broom."

*Hero*Hero*

"Finate Incatatem!" Nott spat out as he he stepped into the classroom. "What on earth are you doing to Crabbe?" he demanded, raising his wand towards Luna.

"She's insane! She was threatening to kill me, and she says she killed my dad!" Crabbe yelled in a panic, wiping cake bits off of his arms. There were also cakey bite marks on his head.

Nott's eyes narrowed just as Luna borrowed one of Harry's favorite tricks, casting "Lumos" and running out the door, knocking Nott off balance. He almost grabbed her robe as she ran past, but the hem tore loose in his hand.

Luna ran until she reached the Ravenclaw tower. She raced up to the girls dorms, past a pair of befuddled second years and into the bathroom, coloriportusing the door behind her.

She hid in one of the stalls, crouching on top of the toilet seat, hugging her knees as silent sobs wracked her body.

*Hero*Hero*

"Look out!" the Death Eater flung himself out of the way as another Reducto blew the dirt where had been standing up in a spray.

"Rhodian! Thorfinn! Where are you guys?"

"I'm here. Rhodian's out - he got stupefied in mid air." Thorfinn gasped out.

Harry quietly circled the Death Eaters, grateful that the idiots continued to call out to each other. Death Eaters were pretty tough dualists one on one, but they had absolutely NO skill at group fighting, and actually fought worse when they were together - each one assumed that the others were doing the thinking for the group. '_Maybe I should just make a run for it?'_ Harry mused. But no - he didn't know where to run to, and if he wandered blindly, he might run into the Death Eaters again when he didn't have the advantaged. _'I better get them while they are still panicked' _Harry eyed where Thorfinn was hiding. He was the fat one, and he was still at the base of the tree, though he had circled to the other side. Most likely Harry had hit him hard enough that he wasn't up to walking yet. Or maybe it was just because he was fat.

'_Can I drop the tree on him?' _Harry ran through the spells he knew, but nothing came to mind. _'I wish Luna was here. She'd make the tree go 'Lord of the Rings' on his fat ass'._ He looked around - the other dark wizard was under cover, behind some sort of bushy, plant-y thing (it wasn't magical, so it wasn't covered in the Hogwarts curriculum).

An idea popped into his head "om shuri mari mamari mari shushari sowaka" he started the omyodo chant. As small pieces of paper appeared to form the Japanese shield spell, he flicked them out in a mass towards the tree.

"Lookout - he's charging you!" the short Death Eater stood up from behind a bush, a flash of green leaving his wand. "What?" he stopped, puzzled now that he had a clear view of the 'attacker'. Before he could say anything further, Harry's stupefy knocked him out.

*Hero*Hero*

Slowly, Luna calmed down and tried to put her thoughts into order. "I need to get help. but who? If only I had some Hinkypunks. or one of Harry's DA.".

She considered if it was feasible to transfigure a passing student into a Hinkypunk. _'I will have better luck with the DA.'_ Despite being a member, she knew that the rest of the DA weren't really her friends. But they were Harry's. She unlocked the bathroom and tentatively ventured out. Seeing nobody around, she straightened her robes and drew herself up, regaining her usual appearance of confident nonchalance. Just then, professor Flitwick burst into the common room, "Children! There has been an attack on Hogsmead. I want all of you to stay here, and if any other student arrives instruct them to remain as well."

"Oh." Luna gasped, '_I could ask a professor for help.'_ the idea had not occurred to her until just then. "Professor! Professor! Harry has been kidnapped!"

Flitwick stopped and turned, "What? When did this happen?'

"It happened during the attack - we were defending ourselves against the Death Eaters. Harry was fighting with one of them at close range, and then they both portkeyed away."

Flitwick ran out the door, "We must tell the Aurors right away. I hope it's not too late - Portkey signatures fade fast, and they might not be able to trace it.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry backed away on all fours from the tree where the injured Death Eater was holed up. It seemed pretty certain now that Harry must have injured his back when he hit him. Harry had considered his options, but unfortunately, with his repertoire of spells, he couldn't think of anything that had a chance of working other than a frontal assault. And that was just stupid. Which was the reason Harry would never, ever put Ron Weasley in charge of anything, be it a the DA or a quidditch team. '_When it comes to tactical thinking, Ron's as bad Goyle.'_

But with the last Death Eater immobile, retreat was a viable option. Once Harry had put a hillock between himself and his opponent, Harry finally stood up. _'Now where the hell am I?'_ He started walking.

*Hero*Hero*

"That's a lucky break" The lead Auror talked as his assistant cast a spell, "There is no way to trace an Apparition, but portkeys can be tracked. I am surprised the Death Eaters were sloppy enough to use one." He was a tall, good looking man with a large broach holding on a half cloak. He obviously thought himself quite stylish.

"Most of them apparated away, but the one that Harry was fighting with might not have had the time to do so." Flitwick replied. They were standing outside the ruined bakery as the Aurors worked.

"Got it! Let's go."

"Wait, I'll go with you!" Luna stepped forward.

The Auror looked incredulously at the teenaged girl, "No, you will not!" He snapped. "Your job is to stay here, where I don't have to worry about you getting spelled." He gave Luna a glare, just to drive the message home.

When the blond was suitably cowed, he cast "Apparatum!"

If Luna hadn't been scared of getting splinched, she would have thrown herself onto him as he disappeared. But that sort of thing only worked with Portkeys.

It felt like a several hours, but it was only a tense fifteen minutes before the Aurors returned. Luna and professor Flitwick had moved aside so that the proprietor of the bakery could start making repairs. When the Aurors popped back in, it was with an unconscious man in Death Eater robes. "We didn't find Harry. I am sorry, miss" The Auror didn't look particularly upset, "There was nobody else there. Though if it is any conciliation, it looks like Harry put up a fight before they got him." He smiled charmingly.

Luna had to fight down the urge to transfigure his broach into a wolverine that would claw his face off. Or a cobra. Or a wombat.

*Hero*Hero*

"So, what are we going to do?" Ron asked. The DA was all gathered for an emergency session in the Room of Requirement by his request.

"Do? About what?" Asked Hannah.

"About getting Harry back." Luna nodded at Ron's pronouncement.

"And how do you propose doing that?" asked Simon.

"We could.."

"Could what? We don't have any leads, and even if we did, what would we do, storm into the Death Eater's hideout in a frontal assault, take them all out and rescue Harry?"

"We wouldn't have to take them ALL out." Ron replied sheepishly. "We would just have to hold them off long enough to get Harry."

Simon rolled his eyes as Hannah put a hand on Ron's arm, and said gently, "Ron, sweety, you really are a good friend to Harry, and I really respect that, but I don't think there is anything we can do right now."

"We could use the spell that Daddy and I came up with to find Crumpled Horn Snorkacks" Luna added, slightly desperately.

"And is Harry a Snorkack?" asked Goyle.

"No" she pulled her knees up and hid behind them dejectedly. If even Goyle was finding flaws in her plans, it was a bad sign.

"But we have to get Harry.."

"Get Harry what?" asked Harry, walking into the room.

"Harry!" Luna threw herself out of her chair so fast that nobody saw her cross the intervening space.

"Where were you? How did you get back?" Ron fired off questions.

'Mmrph!" Harry attempted to reply, but discovered that Luna was glued to his lips, and that he wouldn't be able to talk until Luna came up for air. And honestly, he didn't mind: Luna hadn't been this affectionate in a very long time. He held up a hand for Ron to wait.

The rest of the of the DA went from surprised at seeing Harry, to excited to have him back, to slightly embarrassed, as Luna showed no signs of letting go.

"Um, Luna? I think Harry needs to breath." Neville volunteered tentatively.

At which point the blond stepped quickly away.

"Right. Nothing much to tell. I got away from the Death Eaters, then I walked. It was dark by the time I found a road. After that, I called the Knight Bus, and got to Hogsmead." He shrugged, as if to say it was no big deal.

Harry looked around the group. "But these attacks are getting out of control. There's a new one every week. Something needs to be done, before anymore people we know get killed."

There were nods from the whole group, "Yeah, but what can we do about it?"

"I'll get back to you in a couple of days. I have been working something for a couple of months. Most of it, the dangerous parts, will be done by me and a couple of others, but I will need you guys to help. Are you good with that?" Harry looked around the rooms. Most of the students gave their approval. "Good, then we should start training on the parts that you guys will be doing." Harry was just about to sit down when Luna grabbed his arm

"Harry, we need to talk."

*Hero*Hero*

It was finally here. 'The Talk'.

Luna lead Harry out into the corridor. They hadn't gone more than ten feet away from the entrance to the Room when Luna turned.

"Harry, I think you should see other girls."

"What?" Harry froze, in shock. "I thought.. You seemed happy just now. When you were kissing me."

Luna looked down at her hands as she fiddled with her fingers, her voice almost a whisper "I AM happy. But that's not the point. I don't think I am the right girl for you, Harry. That's why I think..." which was as far as she got before Harry stepped in and kissed her gently on the lips. He could feel her start to relax before she pushed him away,

"You aren't making this any easier."

"And I don't plan to. Is that what you have been worrying about since winter break?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Um, yeah, because.."

"I don't care." Harry interrupted, "I love you for who you are."

"Love..?" Luna asked in a small voice.

Harry nodded. He had to put his entire will to pull the next words out of his mouth, but he knew he had to, "Yeah. I love you."

Luna buried her face in Harry's shoulder. Harry was just about to put his arms around her when she pushed away. "Good bye, Harry" and she turned to walk away.


	11. Chapter 10

Some of you might not approve of Harry's response to Luna. or might think he's completely nuts.

You might be correct.

* * *

><p>START<p>

The next day, Harry was in a daze. Nothing made any sense any more. His life these past two years had been one chaotic disaster after another, but he had gotten used to it, but now...

Harry sat down in the classroom. He wasn't certain if he was even in the right place, but apparently his instincts served him well, as he had managed to make his way to the DADA classroom.

"Can you believe he was two timing Hermione? He's been married to that crazy blond since fourth year.."

Harry wasn't certain where the whispers were coming from. Probably a Slytherin, but he didn't care anymore. He couldn't even work up the energy to tell whomever off, to tell them that he and Luna weren't dating anymore.

And why weren't they dating? He had finally done it - He had told Luna how he felt. And Luna seemed to like him too, at least a little, but then...

It didn't make sense. Usually, when Luna did something odd, it made perfect sense, just from a different perspective. But no matter how Harry tried, he couldn't find an angle on this one.

As class wound to an end, Harry realized that he wasn't certain what it had been about. His notebook was empty. '_Something is wrong with Luna. That has to be the answer'._ He picked up his book bag. Or tried to, only to find that it was stuck to the floor with a sticking charm. Harry barely noticed as he Finite Incatatemed it. _'I need to talk to Luna'_ As soon as class was over, he ran to find the quirky blond. It took several point me charms, but he finally found her – she was in Potions. Harry sat down on the stairs leading out of the dungeon. He had a free, so he could wait.

When the period finally ended and the fifth years streamed up the stairs Harry watched for his erstwhile girlfriend. Unsurprisingly, she was the last drop at the end of the stream of students.

"Luna, we never finished our talk."

Luna started, and she looked like she was considering fleeing before resigning herself. "I think the Wrackspurts have gotten to you, Harry. We finished talking."

"No, we didn't, because you never told me what is really bothering you. What has been bothering you all this year."

"I didn't tell you because I would rather you not know." Luna replied in exasperation.

"I think I need to, though, to understand."

Luna stood there for a long time, before finally saying "It's simple. You see, I'm evil. That's why I don't want you dating me."

"Luna, all those 'blond Bellatrix' cracks are just the Daily Prophet being the Daily Prophet."

She shook her head no "It's not that." she said quietly. "I was happy. I mean really, 'jump up and down cackling gleefully' happy, when Hermione died." Her left hand was grasping her right arm so hard that her fingernails left red furrows on her skin as they curled in.

"Oh." Harry took a step away, running a hand though his messy hair. A storm of emotions roiled inside him as his expectations crashed against Luna's reality, "_Maybe Luna isn't who I thought she was...'_

"And that's even after the medi-witch informed me that Hermione had saved my life!" Luna started to cry. Harry kneeled down next to where she had collapsed, but she pulled away from him, curling into a ball, and he didn't reach out to her.

"Uhm, you just received a shock to your system... It's understandable if you reacted inappropriately..."

"You don't understand!" Luna interrupted, "It wasn't just a passing fancy. I still feel that way!"

"I need to think about this a little. " Harry stood up and started up the stairs. Part way up he turned and looked at the small girl huddled on the floor, "Don't do anything drastic until we talk again, ok?"

"Ok" Luna gave a weak smile.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry tried to work out the Arithromancy for the ritual. He was sitting in the library, at what had become 'his' table. Two books on magic rituals and a text on sympathetic magic sat spread out around him on the table, waiting their turn as he wrestled with a musty tome on magic circles. This was the last bit for his plan. He knew it would work, he just needed to do the math. But it was old, boring and dusty. And all he could think about was Luna.

_'I wish I could talk to somebody about this._' Harry sighed and put his head down on to his hands. '_There's no point in talking to Nev – he'll just say I should break it off with Luna. And Sirius will tell me to go find some brain dead blond and see how fast I can get her out of her skirt.'_ Maybe that was the right answer. Luna had changed a lot in the last year. She used to be so... harmless. Now she could be a little scary, sometimes.

_'What she did to that werewolf with the FiendFyre... that was...' _Harry didn't want to admit it, but it still freaked him out. Normal girls didn't smile like that as they watched a person burn to death.

_'Uh. The Arithromancy makes more sense than she does' _He pulled the book back towards himself.

*Hero*Hero*

Days passed like that. Harry put the minimum work required for his classes. It almost felt like the way his life use to be back before fourth year, except now, instead of slacking off, as soon as class let out, he would run off to the library to work on his special project. And his new 'bare minimum' was still good enough to pass the class.

Harry listened with half an ear as Flitwick lectured. It was stuff that he had already worked on with the DA in the fall, so instead he finished up the details on the potion that he needed the Twins to make for him.

"Harry. Earth to Harry"

Harry looked up at Ron, "Yeah?"

"Class let out, and it's lunch time. Let's go get some food."

"I'll be down in a minute."

"No, you won't. I've seen you do this before. Come on, mate." Ron closed Harry's book for him.

"Yeah. Ok. Maybe food will help me think." Harry go up, '_Maybe I should ask Ron about Luna? Nah. What does Ron know about girls? He is so bad with them that he was coming to ME for advice!'_

*Hero*Hero*

A wad of paper hit Harry in the back of the head "Hey, Harry" he turned to glare at Terry, behind him. They were in Defense, but Professor Lupin was still setting up a wardrobe with a boggart that he had confundo-ed to always manifest as a dementor – they were going to be practicing their patronus charms.

"What's up"

"Nothing. Just… How would you be able to tell if your girl is cheating on you?" Terry asked nonchalantly.

Harry frowned, '_where is this coming from? Are there more rumors?' _Harry wasn't certain if anybody knew that he and Luna had broken up. He certainly wasn't talking about it, though it. Though maybe he should, at least to Neville. Neville knew about people. "I would ask Luna. She's the most disarmingly honest person on the planet."

"And she would just tell you?"

"Yes. She tells me everything, including some stuff I'd rather not know."

"Huh" Terry replied, thoughtfully.

"Is this about Luna?" Harry asked.

"No, it's Nola. She's been hanging out in the 'puff common room all the time. She says we're still going out, but she's always too busy to do stuff." Terry gave an exasperated sigh, "So I want to find out if she's lying to me."

"Huh" Harry replied, thoughtfully. _'Luna is extremely honest. But what she said about Hermione… I just wish she hadn't said it." _Harry considered the puzzle that was Luna._  
><em>

*Hero*Hero*

It was Friday, almost a week after the disastrous Hogsmead Weekend, and Harry was putting the final touches on his plan in the library.

"Here. I found another book on enhancing Similarity for Sympathetic magic, and I made some notes. You should take a look at chapter four and six." Luna sat down opposite Harry, careful not to sit too close. Or too far away. It was the first time she had come over talk since breaking up. But whenever they passed in the halls, she always seemed to be pulled in towards him before yanking herself away. It was almost like a gravitational attraction.

"Um, thanks. But how did you know what I'm researching?" Harry put the book on the top of his stack. He still had two others to read.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Harry, I've been retrieving you thoughts from the Wracksurts and cramming them back in your head for the past year. Is it any surprise that I have managed to see what's going on in your mind?"

Harry smiled, "Makes sense." Harry turned back to his notebook, not looking at his ex. But after a few moments he asked, "So why are you here?"

"You said it yourself last year: just because we aren't going out anymore doesn't mean we can't be friends. And I want to make sure that your plan succeeds. I can't be certain unless I help out."

"You're pretty confident in yourself."

Luna snorted, "I'm an evil genius. Ask anybody."

Harry continued writing. Luna sat quietly and watched him. several minutes later, Harry put his pen down, and looked up at Luna, "Luna, I don't think you're evil. The Hermione thing… I think… I think I would have rather you hadn't told me about it, but I.. I think I understand. We all have thoughts that we wish we didn't. But the fact that you know that they are wrong, as long as we don't act on them, it means you're not a bad person. It's just... being human." Harry stood up and moved around to Luna's side of the table, sitting down next to her. "But most of us are better at faking being somebody we aren't. You.. you can't. You're too honest. That's why I love you so much." And it's not like she was going to go around hexing any girl that smiled at him. Luna wasn't creepy like that.

Silence reigned as Harry skimmed the book, taking notes, and periodically glancing over at Luna. Luna sat quietly, lost in thought.

*Hero*Hero*

"Hey" Harry started upright. It was an hour later, and somebody had whisked his book on sympathetic magic out from under his nose.

"The Nargles did it" replied an unapologetic Luna as she dangled the book from one hand.

"Nargles?! I see the book in your hand. You're holding it!"

"Oh, this? It's not your book. It just looks exactly like it. Come on."

"What? Where? Give me my book back!"

"I told you, it's not your book. And you need to take a break. It's already sunday afternoon, and I know for a fact that you haven't moved from that spot since friday evening. The House Elves have started dusting you when nobody is watching."

"I've only been here for a couple of hours…" Harry sighed, "Maybe a break is a good idea. Want to go down to the lake?"

Luna's face lit up "Maybe we can catch some Gulping Plimpies."

Harry nodded, "And afterwards, you'll give me back my book?"

"No, but I can loan you my book." Luna took Harry's arm. She looked almost elegant, gliding along at his side. Except for the bottlecap necklace and the slightly distracted look.

"The one that looks exactly like my book?"

"That's right. I will make it an indefinite loan."

*Hero*Hero*

The Gulping Plimpies were a no-show.

"Aren't Plimies a type of fish?" Harry asked as he sat down next to Luna in a secluded spot by the lake, a warming charm making their piece of Scottish winter much more bearable.

"Uh-hmm," Luna arranged her robes more comfortably so that she could lean against Harry.

"And how are we going to see those, under a sheet of ice?"

Luna sat up in surprise, and gave the lake an offended glance. "I guess we'll have to find something else to do to pass the time." She leaned back and snuggled into Harry's shoulder. "And for the record, I have always loved you."

*Hero*Hero*

Harry looked up from his Arithromancy book and rolled his shoulders. _'I'm finally get some use out of 6 years of that stupid class.'_ He put the text book and the book on sympathetic magic away before pulling out his charms homework. '_And I still have to do charms. It never ends.'_

The other Ravenclaws were down in the common room, but Harry was working up in his dorms. It was partly to avoid all the dirty looks that the girls were STILL giving him, but also because he had too much to do. The other 'Claws were hard workers, but they only had to deal with classes. They weren't trying to stop the most powerful Dark Lord in 50 years or more.

He was half way through charms when he froze with his quill hanging over his parchment, dripping slightly.

After staring off into the distance for a moment, Harry pulled out the sympathetic magic ritual he had been working on earlier and started scribbling furiously.

*Hero*Hero*

Weeks passed in this manner, with Harry barely make it to class. The rest of the school was very subdued. The students talked quietly and didn't spend much time chatting in the halls. Nobody wanted to hear about what was going on outside of Hogwarts. But nobody wanted to be in the dark about attacks on family of friends. When there was a Death Eater attack, students listened just long enough to find out if it involved anybody they knew, and then fled, as if not knowing was the same as it not happening.

Harry's plans, and the research that they fed on, were slow to blossom, and the only thing that let him keep his sanity was Luna.

*Hero*Hero*

"What's he doing here?" Ron glared daggers at Draco. All of the senior members of the DA were present, as was the lone Junior Death Eater (as Ron called him). The Room of Requirements had provided them a dimly lit room, just big enough for a round table. Seated around it were Harry, with Luna glued to his side, as well as Ron, Neville and Terry. On the other side of the table were Draco, Goyle and Hannah.

"We are here because we all want to get rid of Voldemort. Draco no less the rest of us."

"But his family are blood purists! They support Voldemort."

"So are mine!" interjected Goyle at the same time as Draco said, "Just because I believe in blood purity doesn't mean I support that serial killing psycho."

"What Draco isn't saying," added Harry, "Is that when he goes home for the summer, Voldemort will have him murdered. So he doesn't have much choice."

Draco scowled at Harry for his choice of words, but it seemed to please Ron and Terry.

"I have a plan for how to take out Voldemort, but it's complicated, and it's going to take all of us working together."

"I don't think the DA has a chance against him even if we work together." Neville objected.

"Normally, no. But once I have your unbreakable vow, I will explain my plan."

Several of the members hesitated, but finally, all eight of the teens held out their wand and swore the oath.

"Here's what we need."

*Hero*Hero*

"We can set up the kill zone here," Neville pointed to a rocky outcrop behind the Quidditch stands. The ground was gullied and broken here all the way to the Forbidden Forest, so students almost never came out this far. Which is why during fourth year, Hagrid housed the dragons back here for the First Task of the Triwizard tournament.

"Do you think you will have enough cover?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, there's enough rubble that we can arrange a low berm around it. And the rock is smooth enough to trace wards on. I'll take care of it." Neville jotted some note on a parchment floating in front of him as they walked, "How's the rest of it going?'

"Good. I got all the supplies. Luna and Terry are setting up the magic circle for the sympathetic magic. Ron and Draco are practicing their part, as are Goyle and Hannah."

"Can Hannah even fly a broom?" Neville asked incredulously.

"Yeah, she's actually pretty good. Goyle flies like a brick, though." Harry wished he had better fliers for that mission, but those two were the only ones who didn't already have a task and who were willing to volunteer for it.

"Well, being a brick is pretty much his job in all this, so hopefully it'll be enough."

"Yeah." Harry sighed and ran his hands over his head, "though I bought them both emergency portkeys. I hope nobody gets hurt."

Neville stopped and looked at him sternly. "Harry, what we are doing is extremely dangerous. People WILL get hurt. But if we do it right, it will be fewer than if we did nothing. Far fewer."

Harry nodded glumly, "Yeah, you're right. I'm just not used to thinking like that. I have gotten used to getting into dangerous situations. For the past two years, it seems like I can't avoid them. But to ask others to do the same… It feels wrong."

Neville squeezed Harry's shoulder. "I know".

*Hero*Hero*

"Why do you need the mirror?" asked Sirius.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you." Harry replied. He was sitting in an empty classroom on the fourth floor. It was almost curfew, so the hallways were empty.

"Then why should I give you the mirror?"

"Because if I tell you why I need it, you'll let it slip to Dumbledore, and he won't let me do what I plan to do."

Sirius mulled that over. "It's a big prank isn't it?'

"The biggest." Of all the adults in his life, Sirius was the only one Harry trusted, but Sirius couldn't keep a secret. Ever since he had escaped Azkaban, he had had verbal diarrhea.

Sirius thought for another moment, "You know, just because I'm an adult doesn't mean I lost my sense of humor…" he wheedled.

'_An adult in body only.'_ "I'll tell you about it afterwards."

"Fine. I'll owl it over in the morning." Sirius paused, "So, are you still dating the blond Bellatrix?"

"Stop calling her that. And yes."

"I''m calling her that because I am concerned for you, and that is my way of showing it."

"What, by insulting my fiancee?"

Sirius looked alarmed. "I thought you said that was only a joke."

"It was. I'm not so sure anymore, though."

"Merlin. Harry, you're too young to talk about marriage. Wait until you graduate and have a chance to experience more of the world."

"I've experienced plenty. And Luna has stood by me through some pretty crazy stuff."

"Just because you rescued her doesn't make you a good match. Not every knight in shining armor marries the damsel in distress."

"What, he just rides off into the sunset after a chaste kiss?", Harry teased. Despite his affection for Sirius, Harry had over the past couple of years learned not to care what anybody else thought. You had to make your own decisions. Nobody else actually gave a damn about what you wanted. It was about getting you to fit in with their plans and preconceptions. Which is why Luna was so special. She was the exception to that rule.

"Weeelll, made more than a kiss," leered Sirius, "but it's still not enough for a relationship."

"I know. And I won't rush into anything." Harry acquiesced.

"Ok, that's all I'm asking." Sirius relaxed, "Get the mirror back to me as soon as you can - I really enjoy talking to you, pronglet."

"Same back at you."

*Hero*Hero*

"Do you think we really have a chance?" Neville asked as he walked with Harry to Herbology.

"Yeah. Voldemort's weakness is that he thinks everybody on our side wants to fight fair. I got a whole list of dirty tricks that I got planned."

Neville clasped his hands behind his back, and asked tentatively, "it would help if you were willing to share all the details with the rest of us." Harry had told him the plan, but it felt like something was missing. Some of what Neville had seen Harry working on didn't seem to fit in.

Harry shook his head. The last part was the key. Without it, even if the rest of the plan leaked, Voldemort wouldn't take it seriously. "No, the more people that know, the greater the chance that something will make it to the Death Eaters' ears. They have their Junior Death Eaters, and they aren't all necessarily in Slytherins. I am sharing the details with those that need to know. Ron and Draco know their parts, Terry and Luna have theirs. Trust me."

"We trust you, Harry, but people are nervous."

_'They would be even more nervous if they knew about the horcruxes.' _

"You're in charge of organizing the DA. Find someway way to inspire them. I'm not real good at that sort of thing. Or at least distract them. We only need another week or two before we are ready to go." Harry pauses, and then added "And I'll run the whole plan by Luna, to get a second opinion"

*Hero*Hero*

"Terry."

"Mm?" the teen looked up from the book that he was reading as Neville slid into the seat opposite him. They were in a quiet section of the library stacks favored by the Ravenclaws, away from where the Gryffindors did their 'studying'.

"I got a job for you."

"Is it about you-know-what?"

"Yeah, but this one Harry can't know about."

Terry closed his book, "Look, I don't do politics. If this is some sort of power game, leave me out."

"No, it's nothing like that. Harry doesn't need to know about it, because…" Neville sighed and started again, "You and Luna will be working together on a ritual with Harry, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if anything, you know, happens to Harry..." Neville trailed off, staring at his hands.

"You mean, if he dies?"

"Yeah, if he dies, I want you to Stupify Luna."

Terry thought about that and nodded, "I heard what happened with Crabbe. She's hanging by a thread, isn't she."

Neville nodded "Yeah. Crabbe's an ass, but she almost killed him for something he had nothing to do with. If Harry goes, she will snap. Will you do it?"

Terry frowned, before whispering "Yeah, I'd better."

*Hero*Hero*

It was the class that would never end. Harry was suffering History of Magic as Binns droned on. The only reason he showed up was because there was a rumor that Binns was going to give out a pop quiz.

"And so, in 1605, after three years and two months of negotiations, the goblin nation withdrew chief negotiator Grz'ank and replaced him with Fth'unk, a former soldier. It took two weeks for Fth'unk to arrive. When he did, he fell off of his horse, broke his neck and died. This led to the Fth'unk Uprising, which lasted all week." Binns droned.

'_I have better things to do.'_ And so did the rest of the class. Most were either taking the opportunity to nap, or passing notes. And they didn't even have anything pressing that they had to do, such as planning an assault on one of the most powerful dark wizards of the 20th century.

*Hero*Hero*

It was a cool April evening when everything was finally all set. "Are you ready?" Harry asked, speaking to his two way mirror.

"Yeah, we're just waiting for your word," Hannah replied through the matching mirror.

"Good. Remember to hit the broom shed first. And tell Draco to wait five minutes before going in."

"I remember. We'll take care of our end." Hannah smiled reassuringly. "You go get started."

Harry handed his mirror to Luna. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the magic circle.

Harry, Terry and Luna were working under the bleachers surrounding the Quidditch pitch. Typically, the only people who made their way in here were teens skivving off school, or couples looking for some privacy. as could be attested to by the rubbish that they had had to clean out before starting. The firewisky bottles and broken glass had been ok, but Harry had absolutely refused to touch the used condom. That had been Wingardium Leviosa'ed into the trash bag, much to Terry's amusement. Fortunately, the ground under the stands had been transfigured into stone to support their weight, so the teens had been able to inscribe the old fashioned magic circle on it without any difficulty. They had then chalked in a complicated array of magical symbols around the circle. 5 candles stood at specific points, providing the main illumination in the gloomy area. It looked like magic straight out of the 14th century.

As soon as Harry stepped into the circle, the two other teens started pacing along the outside, muttering in soft Latin.

Harry pulled out a small knife, and taking a deep breath to calm his beating heart, began the chant.

"Sanguis sanguinem meum."

"Consimilis invoco consimilis"

"Quid est separatus sanabunt."

He cut his palm with the knife, squeezing out a few drops of blood.

He then turned to face in the other direction and he repeated.

"Blood of my blood"

"like calls to like"

"What is separated, make whole"

And again, a cut and more blood.

He repeated the ritual with the other two cardinal directions. By the end, his hands were shaking as the spell took hold. His heart was beating a staccato rhythm, he felt dizzy, and his vision was doubled.

Harry closed his eyes, and with trembling hand pulled out a small bottle. It had an incongruously cheerful and bright label advertising it as being a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product. Forcing the stopper out was a herculean task.

All this time, Terry and and Luna walked and chanted. Luna kept a worried eye on her boyfriend as well.

Harry lifted the bottle of poison to his lips and drank deeply. He staggered, but managed to maintain his balance.

Luna stepped away from the circle and raised the mirror "It's a go!" she quickly put the mirror back and stepped back into the circle, but now she was watching Harry with expectant horror as she walked. Terry had to keep the chant going on his own.


	12. Chapter 11

"Are you ready?" Harry asked, speaking to his two way mirror.

"Yeah, we're just waiting for your word" Hannah replied through the matching mirror.

"Good. Remember to hit the broom shed first. And tell Draco to wait five minutes before going in." Like all upscale mansions, the Malfoy House had a separate outbuilding for storing brooms. With those gone, Hannah and Goyle had the advantage of height. Otherwise, they were toast, since neither one was a particularly good flier.

But they were the only ones to volunteer for this ridiculously dangerous mission.

Hannah lowered the mirror. "Ron, Draco. Wait until you hear the explosions."

Other than Ron, that is. His task would be even more dangerous.

As for Draco, this was actually the safest alternative left to him.

The two teens nodded. Draco looked sick with anxiety, but Ron was either braver, or more lacking in imagination, for he had a grim smile on his face.

Hannah and Goyle mounted their brooms and flew over the fence towards the Malfoy mansion

Draco watched the figures diminish. "What if he takes a bezoar?"

Ron shook his head, "It doesn't matter. The poison isn't in his stomach, so it will only help momentarily. Are you ready for this?"

Draco swallowed, "Yeah. It's my home, so I got to take out the garbage."

Ron smiled, "that's the spirit!"

They crouched behind a small fir tree, waiting anxiously for something, anything, to happen. Draco kept glancing at his pocket watch as Ron scanned the horizon, trying to see Goyle and Hannah. It felt like eons, but it must have been no more than a minute or two before there was a dull 'BOOM' from the direction of the Malfoy mansion, and a cloud of dust rose up into the air. Several streaks of light rose up into the air as somebody on the ground cast spells. With any luck the explosion was the Malfoy broom shed.

"Ok. let's go. Have you got it?" Ron got part way up.

Draco nodded, pulling out a bookmark that was an emergency portkey that his father had given him back when he was a first year.

Ron took hold of Draco's arm as Draco activated the device.

"You certain this will get work?"

"That's why I'm here. As a Malfoy, I'm keyed to the anti-apparition wards." His last words were drawn out as the portkey jerked them up into the air and spun them around.

They landed, only slightly awkwardly, in Draco's room in the Malfoy mansion. Ron stared in horror at the Chudley Cannons poster on the far wall. "What…"

"Shut it," hissed Draco, not even looking at Ron. He cracked the door open and peered out into the hallway, "Follow me." Draco was fairly certain that Voldemort would have taken over the master bedroom for his own, especially with his father in jail.

Draco led the way down the dimly lit hallway to the back of the house. They could hear voices coming from downstairs, probably the dining room or sitting room or one of the other places with comfortable chairs to lounge on.

Fortunately, the hallway they were in was empty of people. Once at the end, Draco opened a door into a servants stair that hugged the back wall of the house. He peered up, then down.

Nobody.

Which was not a big surprise - Malfoys mostly relied on House Elves, so there were very few human servants - just the butler and the head groundskeeper. And they were both mudbloods, so chances were good that they were no longer around.

"Almost there."

Ron was walking hunched over (as if expecting to be hit with a killing curse at any moment), wand in his hand, as Draco led the way through a servants corridor that skirted several guest rooms. A rhythmic "Thock, Thock" from one hinted that at least some of them were occupied.

They were almost at the main door into the master bedroom when they heard voices approaching from the cross corridor.

Draco put out a hand to stop Ron, who knelt down behind a potted plant.

"It's just this way, my Lord" came the voice, "Jugson is on his way with a curse breaking kit."

Lord Voldemort came into view, walking slowly, one hand on his belly, the other on Rudolpus Lestranbge's shoulder. His eyes were unfocussed, as if he was concentrating on something.

"I'll get the door for you, my lord."

Draco pulled out the dagger that Harry had given him. He inspected it quickly - the small medallion was still firmly attached to the blade by Luna's transfiguration. He looked up at Voldemort and Lestrange, then at Ron, a panic spreading through him '_I can't do this. They will see me. they will kill me'_

*Hero*Hero*

Harry staggered, almost falling. '_Can't fall. Have to keep walking._'

His eyes swam, and everything faded in and out.

He was kneeling. He wasn't certain why. "I need to stand up." he reminded himself. The pain in his stomach was excruciating. It felt like somebody had stuck an oar into his gut and was twisting it, wrapping his intestines around it. Somebody handed him a cane.

"Another few minutes, Harry" Luna pleaded as she wrung her hands. She was careful not to cross into the circle. She continued pacing along the outside, her hands clenched together, her fingernails leaving bloody gashes in her palms.

Harry wasn't certain what she was talking about, but it was apparently important to her. He grimaced at Luna and forced himself back up.

*Hero*Hero*

"Professor! Sir!" a fourth year Gryffindor came tearing into McGonagall's office. "I think there is something going on - I saw Harry Potter leading a whole bunch of Gryffindors out of the the castle, and they were heading towards the forbidden forest!"

The Head of House quickly rose to her feet. "Lets go talk to the Headmaster." _'Maybe his room full of sneakscopes will shed some light on this.'_

*Hero*Hero*

Ron watched as Voldemort and one of his chief enforcers slowly staggered towards the bedroom door. They were just five feet away. If Voldemort wasn't in such pain, there is no way that he and Draco would have gone unnoticed. '_If they get inside, it's all over - there's no way we'll be able to get to him.'_ The plan had been for them to hide in the bedroom until Voldemort staggered in, and then ambush him. '_Too late for that now.' _Ron glanced at Draco. The blond boy had turned pale and glassy eyed. He looked like he was about to throw up as well. _'Shoot. He's about to lose it'_

"I'll get the door for you, my lord."

Ron tapped Draco on the shoulder and nodded. He then rose from his hiding spot as the two adults turned to face the other way, _'I can do this. I'm the most powerful wizard in my year. I've trained with Adam and Harry. I'm the best fighter the Defense Association has.'_

He bunched up his legs and sprang forward "Stupify! Protego! Lumos! " He opened fire, darting past the two figures. He didn't bother aiming, instead he concentrated on not getting hit by the inevitable return fire.

Rudolphus moved with speed that belied his large size. He must of caught a glimpse of motion out of the corner of his eye, because he as moving before Ron had a chance to cast his first spell. The muscular Death Eater retaliated ferociously, moving away from Voldemort as the Dark Lord prepared to annihilate this young suicidal fanatic.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Ron dropped and rolled under Voldemort's killing curse, but Lestrange's reducto threw splinters into his back. He staggered up to his feet, throwing a quick stunner followed by a reducto aimed at the Death Eater's feet.

Lestrange was forced to jump to the side as the floor buckled under him. Ron took the opportunity to make a run for it, with the angry Death Eater in pursuit.

As Voldemort concentrated on the battle in front of him, he felt a sharp pain in his side. Turning, he had just a moment to see Draco holding on to the dagger jutting from his side. A trickle of blood ran down it, and to the emergency portkey that Dumbeldore had given to Harry, which Terry had modified and that Luna had affixed to the dagger.

The injury was more annoyance than anything else – his body would quickly regenerate the injury. But before he could kill the little whelp, the world spun around him, and he was flung through space as the portkey activated.

*Hero*Hero*

Albus listened to Minerva "This is indeed alarming." Lately, Dumbledore had been becoming more and more concerned about Harry. The boy had lost interest in helping in the Horcrux search, and had become apathetic in class. "Let us go and see if we can put a stop to whatever disaster is brewing."

A few moments after Albus left his room, the floo flared to life, spilling out a shaken Draco Malfoy.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry tried to keep from toppling over. If he did, he would collapse into the pool of vomit that was at his knees._ 'when did I get onto my knees?' _Harry's brain was muzzy. He wasn't certain what he was doing, but he knew he had to keep at it. He pushed himself back up with the sheathed sword. _'Sword? I thought I had a cane.'_ He took a deep breath. That cleared his head a little. _'Oh, right'_ Augusta Longbottom had given it to him and made some long spiel. He had brought it along as a good luck charm

'G_ood thing, too.' _He leaned heavily on it as his stomach clenched up as somebody started to pull his intestines out through his belly button again (or so it felt). After a moment, the worst of the pain passed, and he was able to breath again. '_The Twins really are good at making nasty potions'_. Though his was a special order, and not a stock item.

Just then, a shout went up from the roughs behind the stands.

"He's here!" Luna stepped forward and wiped part of the chalk circle with her foot before rushing over to Harry. Harry had almost forgotten where he was – his world had dwindled to the tiny area inside the diagram

"I'm ok. Lets go!' Harry staggered towards the noise.

"The Bezoar!" Luna called to Terry.

"Not yet. I'll take it later."

Luna watched him with worry in her eyes as Terry took Harry's other arm to steady him. Harry pulled the others along at a brisk stagger, heading for the killing field.

*Hero*Hero*

Lord Voldemort resisted the urge to vomit and pulled himself together as the portkey dropped him on a rocky shoulder jutting from a grassy knoll. As soon as the Portkey's telltale signature touched down, flashes of spellfire began crossing his landing spot, warning him just in time to raise a protego shield.

He poured his strength into his shield as he apparated.

Unsurprisingly, the apparition failed. They, whoever 'they' were, had raised powerful anti-apparition wards. He took a moment to examine his surroundings.

"Stupify Stupify Stupify Stupify

Stupify Stupify Stupify Stupify

Stupify Stupify Stupify Stupify"

Spells were coming from all sides, splashing on his protego, which easily resisted the assault.

He couldn't see his attackers, as they were hiding behind a berm that encircled his position. Who ever had planned this ambushed had done a masterful job. The only thing that surprised him was the use of the stunning spell.

And then he glanced down.

Lord Voldemort's blood ran cold. There was some sort of intricate ward carved into the rock he was standing on.

If they wanted him on that ward, then he had to get off of it immediately. He still couldn't think clearly as his stomach roiled, and a huge gas exploded out his nether regions. He concentrated, and silently cast his new flight spell, lifting himself into the air.

*Hero*Hero*

"Don't let him get away" Neville yelled, followed by "Reducto!"

The exploding hex deflected off of the protego, knocking Voldemort slightly askew as he lifted into the air.

Something from his charms class tickled the back of Neville's brain, and he carefully aimed his next spell at Voldemort's feet. "Reducto."

The powerful spell smashed through the bottom of the shield, blasting off Voldemnort's left foot at the ankle.

Neville had recalled that Protego had been designed by wizards standing on the ground, and it was weak at it's very bottom.

*Hero*Hero*

The sudden pain made Lord Voldemort lose his concentration, and he almost collapsed to the ground, barely maintaining his protego. He managed to maintain enough of the flight spell going to keep from falling over, but he was hovering scant inches over the ground.

But he had seen something of value: his attackers were children. And it was a matter of time before they made a mistake. He strengthened his protego and watched.

THERE!

One of the teens had gotten over excited and had stood up. Too bad he couldn't spare the energy for a killing curse.

"Reducto."

"Protego" the teen's partner cast a shield just in time.

Each of the teens attacking Voldemort had a partner tasked with defending against any counter attacks.

But blocking a spell from Voldemort was not an easy matter.

*Hero*Hero*

Harry staggered over to the killing ground just as Seamus went flying backwards _'shit' _"Bezoar, NOW!" he yelled, or tried to. It came out as a gasp. Terry immediately lifted up the hairy mass that he had been carrying in his (very sweaty) hand and crammed it into Harry's mouth.

Almost at once, Harry felt better, and he bolted for the spot where Seamus had been, just in time to meet Voldemort as he crested the berm.

Harry's mouth was full of bezoar, so magic was out of the question.

But his impromptu crutch was still in his hands.

*Hero*Hero*

Voldemort had just escaped the warded circle when who should he see but his nemesis. The Boy-Who-Refused-to-Die. Who had something furry hanging out of his mouth. "Potter" he hissed, glaring hatefully at him as he raised his wand.

Which is when he felt an odd sensation. From his front this time. He lost his concentration when he realized that there was something protruding from his stomach. A sword had pierced his protego, as well as him.

As he collapsed to his knees, he grimaced, "You think you've won? If you strike me down, I shall soon return, more powerful than before."

"What is he talking about?" began Terry looking questioningly at Harry.

"Not now." replied Luna as she pulled a bottle out from her robes. She stepped close to Harry, to be ready to assist him

Harry shoved as hard as he could, forcing Voldemort's dying body back onto the ward inscribed on the stone. At the same time he gagged down the last of the bezoar.

As Voldemort's last breath rattled out of his lungs, a fine white mist rose from his body. It twisted and turned, as if to flee, but the ward under the dead Dark Lord flared to life, keeping it from moving.

Harry took the bottle from Luna and pulled the stopper. "Vofeh shel Moshe v'Shlomo, ani covel atah!" he pronounced. The white mist was sucked into the bottle like sand into a vacuum cleaner. As the last trace of the mist was hoovered up, Harry slammed the stopper, the Seal of Solomon, onto the genie bottle.

"It's done!"

*Hero*Hero*

As Harry made his way off of the the magic circle, Draco came running at a stumble down from the quidditch pitch. Alone.

"Did you get him?"

"Yeah, we got him" Neville replied tiredly.

"Where's Ron?" Harry had a bad feeling about this.

Draco looked abashed, "we got separated. I had to floo out without him."

Harry's stomach roiled. "Harry." came the stern voice as Albus Dumbledore and several professors descended on the group, "What is the meaning of this?"

Harry turned to Neville "Stall!" and he whipped out his two way mirror as Neville darted towards the Headmaster.

"Hannah!" he called out. Fortunately, the blond girl responded almost immediately, "Where are you?"

"We're leaving Malfoy Mansion. Both Goyle and I are fine."

"Ron didn't make it out. Can you fly by and…"

"We'll handle it" Hannah interrupted.

Harry let out a sigh, and turned to face the headmaster.

*Hero*Hero*

Hannah and Goyle flew low along the outskirts of Malfoy mansion - they could see somebody hover over the roof on a broom, and several people inspecting the ruins of the broom shed that they had blasted as a distraction.

"I don't see him. He must still be inside," Goyle whispered nervously. Any moment now, they were going to be spotted. They were supposed to be away, far away, by this point.

"Let's make one more circuit" Hannah clutched her broom in a deathgrip. She did not want to be here. This was way, WAY more than she had expected, but she couldn't leave a friend behind.

Goyle nodded and they slowly drifted along, flying so low that their feet almost dragging in the dirt.

There was a flash and a boom as a part of the wall of the Malfoy mansion burst apart, revealing a kitchen. "There!" Staggering at a run, Ron Weasely burst out, before whirling to send a gout of flame spurting into the opening, followed by a repairing spell that shifted several blocks of stone back into the opening. It wasn't enough to actually fix anything, but the opening was now too small for a person to get through.

The young couple turned their brooms towards Ron, with Goyle zooming forward, arm outstretched. Ron was almost to his rescuers when one of the Malfoy peacocks stepped into his path, and with giant, distended jaws that belonged better on a crocodile rather than a bird, bit down on his left leg.

"Ahh" Ron collapsed. Goyle missed. As he turned his broom for another pass, streaks of spell fire started flashing past him and Hannah. Several more figures came streaming out of the mansion.

*Hero*Hero*

"I am sorry for not telling you about our plan, But I was worried that word might get back to Voldemort" Harry saw Albus's mouth compress into a disapproving line, "It's not that I don't trust you. I do, but you never know who else would overhear. I felt that the fewer who knew the…"

"Harry, we need help!" Harry turned from Dumbledore back to the mirror. "We can't reach Ron - there are too many Death Eaters!"

"Professor, We need to go to the Malfoy Mansion - Ron's life is in danger!"

"What is.."

"Not now! Trust me!" Harry wasn't letting himself think about the consequences. He was on autopilot - one of his guys was in danger, so he had to rescue him. Just like in the DA training.

Albus scowled. He prided himself on being even tempered. He hadn't lost his temper since that time with Gellert. But to have a student talk to him this way.. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Professor. Ron's life is on the line. We have minutes at most. I know what is going on, but there is not time to explain. Please. He's one of mine."

Dumbledore nodded. He took Harry's arm and Side-Alonged him to the edge of the Malfoy grounds. The flashes of spellfire were clearly visible flaring up into the sky, with some coming back down at several individuals spread out around the huge lawn. Goyle and Hannah were using altitude to keep from getting hit, but that meant that their spells were almost as inaccurate.

"Can we get inside?" asked Harry as he scanned the grounds beyond the fence.

There! That prone figure must be Ron - he was struggling to crawl towards the fence as several of the spellcasters were edging towards him as at the same time they tried to avoid spells from above.

"The Malfoys have substantial wards around their property. I can tamp down on some of the more lethal wards, but to fully lower them would take even me several hours of work.

"Can you drop them enough for me to get inside?" Harry demanded as he eyed a likely route - there was a small copse of trees near the fence, and it led halfway to Ron.

"Yes, but they will still be strong enough to stifle your magic."

"Do it!" Harry pulled off his robes, leaving him in a pair of slacks and a too-light shirt.

"Done."

Harry jumped and grabbed the top of the fence, between two of the decorative wrought iron spikes, and pulled himself up and over. He then took off in a crouch, running through the trees. Thankfully, it was a decorative copse, so there was no undergrowth, except for some flowers at the edges. When he reached the far end, he paused and took in the situation.

Ron was fifty feet away, but between him and Harry were a pair of Death Eaters. One of them was a very large man, while the other was more normal. They had their eyes on the sky as they tried to hit the flyers darting overhead.

'_This is bad.'_

Harry took a deep breath and burst out of the azaleas. In ten long strides he reached the first Death Eater, who had his back to him, and threw a hard punch right at his kidney. At the last moment, the fat Death Eater heard something and started to turn, but Harry's attack still sent him sprawling. Harry bent down and scooped the wand from the slack grip of fatso and whipped it across the face of the other Death Eater.

The second death eater staggered back, his free hand flung up to protect his eyes. It was Rudolphus Lestrange.

Not stopping, Harry continued pivoting his body and lashed out a kick at the Death Eater's knee, but he misjudged the angle, and instead of buckling the leg, the Death Eater only grunted in pain.

As Harry recovered from his attack, the Death Eater flicked his wand forwards "Reducto!" At the same time, Harry stepped in and brushed the wand tip away from his face. As the spell flew past Harry's ear and off into the distance, Harry punched Rudolphus in the solar plexus. Lestrange folded and tried to step back. Before he could do that, Harry grabbed his wand arm with his left hand and swept a kick into the inside of the Death Eaters right leg. As he collapsed, Harry pushed down on his head and pulled up on his arm, spinning him into the ground. _'This is for Hermione, you bastard.' _He was just about to deliver the coup de grace when somebody grabbed him from behind.

'_I forgot! The other Death Eater!'_ Harry dropped his weight, but his assailant held on. Harry threw one elbow back, then the other, but all they hit was flab, and the grip didn't loosen as the two staggered around like a pair of drunks. Fatso the Death Eater didn't know how to fight, but he was big and strong. If he continued to hold him for a few more seconds, Rudolphus would recover and Harry would die.

Only moments had passed, and the Death Eaters closer to the Malfoy Mansion still hadn't noticed the confrontation as they concentrated on dodging Reductos and other noisy, messy spells falling from the sky. Hannah and Greg weren't trying to hit anybody – they used large, area effect spells to force the Death Eaters to stay under cover - pebbles rained down on the them as Reductos blew craters in the manicured lawn, and towers of white hot flame spurted up crazily from the ground. So far, their strategy was working.

But Lestrange had sat up, trying to breath normally. It was only a matter of seconds before he rejoined the fray. Harry began to panic, and the fat Death Eater managed to lock his arms together, giving him a stronger grip. As Harry squirmed, Fatso lifted Harry clear off the ground, holding him in a tight bear hug up in the air.

'_Shit. I'm done.' _Without any leverage, Harry couldn't think of anything to do.

All of a sudden, his attacker (and all the other Death Eaters) momentarily staggered.

As Harry came back down, he saw one of the feet belonging to the Death Eater holding him, and stomped hard. The grip loosened, and Harry jabbed the wand he had stolen behind him, up past his ear. He was aiming at where he believed his opponent's face should be, and jerked forward.

The Death Eater lost his footing and his arm went wide to catch himself. Harry staggered forward before spinning a roundhouse kick straight into the side of the Death Eater's head.

Meanwhile, Rudolphus Lestrange was scrabbling on the ground for his wand. Harry stomped on his hand and dropped his weight, rolling his knee into Lestrange's shoulder. As he dropped, Harry punched him as hard as he could in the back of the head.

Lestrange was down for the count, and Harry found that the anger he had expected when he faced down Hermione's murderer wasn't there. The whole fight had been too fast, and his training had allowed him to flow without worrying about the details. And now, Lestrange was lying face first in the dirt, and it was over.

Harry stepped hard onto his head, just in case.

Looking up, Harry saw that he had finally attracted the attention of some the other Death eaters. The one on the back steps of the mansion was pointing at him and shouting something. _'I hope what Professor Loew said about non-Hermetic magic is true. Otherwise, I'm dead'._

Dropping his stolen wand, Harry took off.

"Om shuri mari mamari mari shushari sowaka" He chanted, holding his left arm in front of him as he ran.

Harry wasn't certain if this would work, but he was desperate - the Death Eaters had been a lot tougher to take out hand to hand than he had thought they would be. _'That's what happens when you stick your head out - you get it knocked in'. _But that didn't stop him from running towards Ron.

A stream of papers inscribed with Chinese characters began to leak from Harry's left hand.

Several spells flashed towards him, but the papers finally formed up into a small shield, intercepting them. The paper shield frayed, but remained intact.

Ron managed to sit up as Harry ran up, and got an arm around his shoulder. Ron's left leg was a mess and he couldn't put any weight on it. There was also blood on his face. The Gryffindor did not look good.

"Hey, good thing you've been working out," Ron wheezed as Harry half carried him towards the fence.

Hannah and Goyle threw Reductos right behind them, blasting craters out of the Malfoy's manicured grounds and throwing dirt up into the air and over the pursuers.

Harry's paper shield started to buckle and collapse apart under the repeated hits of powerful spells.

Harry and Ron were halfway to the fence when Goyle swopped down "Gimme him!" And ripped Ron from Harry's exhausted shoulder before zig-zagging back into the air. He was still climbing when he activated his emergency portkey.

Harry smiled his thanks as he took off, jinking and weaving. He reached the fence and just barely managed to clamber up, falling exhausted on the other side.

Dumbledore ran over to the prone Harry, and grabbed him as he activated a portkey. Just then, several Death Eaters raced up, but the pair of wizards were gone before they had a chance to stop and fire a spell..

*Hero*Hero*

"Thank Merlin!" Luna stepped in and enveloped Harry in a fierce hug, "When you were gone so long, I was worried that something had gone wrong." She let go of Harry and examined him with an unusual intensity, checking that her boyfriend was uninjured. "Do you have all your toes?"

"I'm fine" Harry smiled weakly as he collapsed to sit on a rock. "But it was a close thing. What happened to Malfoy?" Harry nodded to where Draco was sitting on the ground, clutching his arm in pain as several DA members looked on.

"He has the Dark mark."

"I know. So?"

"I got worried, so I used the Protean charm that is part of it to pivot it 180 degrees."

"I know you don't like him, but..." Harry replied, aghast. He tried to get up to go check on Draco, but Luna was clamped to his side and refused to let him go.

"All the Dark Marks are linked, Harry. I gave all the Death Eaters that had one a Charley horse. Though Draco might have gotten a little bit more than that. He screamed as if I was ripping his arm off. And I didn't. I could have, but I knew you would be disappointed with me, so I left it where I found it."

Harry thought about it for a moment. "Oh, yeah. That probably saved my life." He paused before adding, "But I don't think that what you did was technically a Charley horse"

Luna nodded and replied, "You're right. It was a Luna horse. " Before enveloping Harry in another hug. "Don't do anything like that to me again. I was really scared."

"When you have a moment, Harry, we need to talk." Albus said quietly, "In my office."

*Hero*Hero*

As Harry walked into the office, with Luna holding tight onto his arm, Dumbledore pulled his head out of the floo, "That was St. Mungoes. Goyle just brought Ron in. He doesn't look good. I am going to have to go get Molly. You two stay here, and wait for me."

With a flash of the floo, he was gone.

"Um, Luna, you can let go of my arm." Harry sat down in an overstuffed armchair.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that." Luna sat down on the arm.

"Um… I am not going to be able to sleep like this."

"You'll have to learn."

Harry started to blush as he realized that Luna was 100% serious.

Before Harry could say anything further, Luna continued, "this is something I discovered about myself last year. I tried to let go of you. It didn't work." She shrugged apologetically. "So now, wherever you go, I will be there, no matter what. For better of for worse, you're stuck with me." She looked timidly at Harry.

Harry looked his girlfriend, who had just come out of the closet as a obsessive, co-dependent stalker, '_The Dursleys hated me. Cedric betrayed me, Dumbledore, for all his good intentions, lies to me. And Luna is worried that I'll be upset with her over this? Luna.. Luna has always supported me, no matter how poorly I treated her. She's honest, and dependable..'_ Nobody else, not the Weasleys, not even Neville or Terry supported him like that. _'So she has a few...quirks. She'll get over them eventually.' _And in the meantime he could learn to live with her controlling his life._  
><em>

"I think it will be for the better" Harry pulled her down onto the seat next to him and kissed her.

When they finally broke apart, Luna snuggled in. "I always wanted a spring wedding."

END

When Albus returned it was past midnight. The two teens were curled up, asleep, in his large arm chair. Luna was still clamped tight onto Harry's arm.


	13. epilogue

Note: ** ᛟᚹ** is pronounced 'Opila-Wunjo'

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* * *

><p>Epilogue<p>

The main door to the great hall opened.

Step

*Thump

Step

*Thump

Step

"Hey, Ron! Are you coming back to school?" There was an immediate babble of voices as the Gryffindors and many of the other Houses swarmed the student. It was a month after the assault on Malfoy Mansion, and finals were starting in a week.

Harry rushed to join the crowd. In all that time he hadn't seen his friend, as he had been confined to Hogwarts, and Ron had been at St. Mungos.

You could visibly see the anxiety drain from Ron's face as people accepted him back. "No, I'm going to have to retake the classes over the summer. But I'll be here next fall." The tall red head frowned. His left leg was missing below the knee, replaced with a wooden prosthetic, and his right eye had been replaced by an artificial one that gave off a dim blue glow that faded in and out with the rhythm of a heartbeat. The Weasley's couldn't afford top of the line prosthetics like Terry had.

Harry watched from the periphery as Ron's friends (some of whom he had made in absentia) all tried to talk at the same time, to greet the wounded hero. "I don't think you're going to have any trouble getting a date now!" Harry called out.

Ron blushed until his face was as red as his hair. "Harry! Where is the missus?"

Now it was Harry's turn to blush. "We aren't married yet. And Luna has class now."

"Wait - yet?"

"Yeah, we talked about it and decided that the best way to describe us was as 'engaged'"

The crowd quieted down as the rumor mill digested this new tidbit.

Step

*Thump

Step

*Thump

Ron walked over to his friend. "You know, that isn't the normal way couples handle these sorts of thing."

Harry shrugged "I've given up on normal. I'm engaged to Luna."

Ron nodded before sitting down at the table. "Oh, it's good to take a load off. It's hard walking on that. Makes you work up an appetite" As Ron loaded up his plate, he turned to Harry, "so, you think the rest of the Death Eaters are going to cause a problem?" he asked, with a sense of anticipation,.'

"Albus doesn't think so. Not that they will stop being blood purist bigots, but being a Death Eater isn't cool anymore. Not since a bunch of school kids broke into their fortress, kidnapped their leader and possibly killed him.

"Possibly? You mean he could come back?" Ron froze, a strand of chicken hanging from his mouth.

"No. He's gone for good, but you see, the Dark Mark didn't fade all the way, it's gone back to the way it was for the past decade, so they don't know what's going on. It also makes them less likely to elect a new 'dork lord' to lead them. Because if Voldy-shorts comes back, the dark-lord pro-tem will be a thin red smear. " Harry took a sip of his tea, "FYI, Draco's pissed. He doesn't know if he should flee the country or not."

"Tell him to flee. Who needs that ponce. Pass the pudding"

* * *

><p>Epilogue the second<p>

Six years later

"Time! Please pass your papers to the front!' the Defense professor called out as the the sixth years finished their final exams. He glared at them as the papers slowly made their way to the front. He gave special attention with his gimlet eye to the two troublemaker in the back left corner of the classroom. All year they had been trying to undermine his authority, and this would be their last chance to do so. But apparently they too were distracted by the prospect of summer break. Once all the papers were collected, he turned back to the rest of the class with a nod.

"Very good. And remember, Constant Vigilance!" Ron roared. He looked around at the students, "Ok, class dismissed. Have a great summer." The students, who had been sitting attentively for fear of the Weasley Death Glare (one normal eye, and one pulsing blue one, both filled with disapproval, made for a potent disciplinary tool), all started to chatter as they packed up their school supplies.

Ron was just finishing up with the a few cleaning charms when somebody cleared their throat from the doorway to the classroom.

He whirled, and then relaxed. "Oh, hey Harry. I didn't see you there."

"So what happened to the Constant Vigilance?" Harry was leaning against the door jamb.

"This is Hogwart."

"And nothing dangerous EVER happened here, right?" asked Harry a small smile.

Ron sighed, "Fine, Fine. I'll work on it."

"So how is teaching treating you?"

"Pretty good. I think I got the hang of it. It's weird being on a first name basis with McGonagall, excuse me 'Minerva'. Though it it might end up being just the one year. My students love me, but the board isn't happy. They are going to be reviewing my case this afternoon. They say they want somebody with more experience. What they actually mean is somebody who looks old." Ron locked his office door and stomped over to Harry. "And you know what else is weird? As in really annoying? Having Draco underfoot – I thought I was done with that." His replacement eye gave an angry purple pulse.

"Draco? I haven't spoken to him in years. What's he doing at Hogwarts?" Harry hadn't had a chance to catch up with Ron since last summer. Though in retrospect, right now might not have been the best time for it.

"Screwing Hestia Carrow. Who is interning with Pomona Sprout, in Herbology." Ron scowled in disapproval at such indecent antics.

Harry resisted the urge to laugh at Ron's expression, "Yeah, well, I have to deal with Goyle and an Dudley."

"What? Are they screwing too?" Ron looked appalled.

"No. Boxing. Greg somehow ended up working for my cousin, and he got him into the Surrey Amateur Boxing League. They send me free tickets every week."

"So what's wrong with that?"

"Watching two fat guys sloppily pounding each other? Remember, this is the Surrey Amateur League, with emphasis on amateur. Dudley's the best fighter there. It's why he joined, as far as I can tell." Harry gathered his thought, "So anyway - the reason I'm here – are you coming to the wedding?"

"What wedding?"

"Mine. And Luna's"

Ron looked confused, "I didn't know you were getting married."

"I just told you."

"Um yeah.. It's just you have been engaged for ages, and yet you never actually get married. This been going on for years and each spring it's 'we're getting married next May'. So now you have set an actual date?"

When Harry nodded Ron broke into a grin. "That's great! Having you two living together like that was setting a really bad example for the students."

"Ron," Harry smiled, "you're the professor. I'm just a shop keeper. Nobody cares what example I set."

"Don't give me that, Potter. Half my kids have Harry Potter chocolate frog cards. And** ᛟᚹ** is not just a rune shop. How many apprentices do you have?"

"Three," Harry replied sheepishly.

"And I bet there are at least twice that many that you had to turn away. Not only are you a celebrity, but you're also the number one recognized authority on wards and runes in England. And living in sin like that set a really unfortunate example.'

Harry's smile turned slightly fixed, "Um, so how's married life treating you?

"Good, good. Murial's doing great. Except her boss keeps dumping his work on her half the time. Only things is, Mum's complaining about the fact that we aren't popping out any grandkids for her, but other than that, it's all good. Though I don't understand why she's complaining – she's got two from Bill and one each from Percy and Charlie. That should be enough to keep her busy, but Nooo... She needs to get into my and Murial's business."

When Ron took a breath, Harry quickly interrupted, "Yeah, thanks for sharing, but I've got to run. I want to catch Neville during business hours."

"Oh, Ok. When is the wedding? Or have you already told me that to?" Ron asked as Harry walked off, "Actually, never mind - I need to get to my end of the year review. Just owl me the details. As long as it isn't taking place on the moon or something, I'll be there."

"Great. I'll owl you the details." Harry replied over his shoulder "I got to go too: Nev is still living with his gran, so I need to catch him before he leaves the Ministry." Harry walked off. "The moon. Now that's an idea..."

* * *

><p>Epilogue the third<p>

The heat was beyond sweltering. It was July 18th

But that wasn't the reason

It was hottest part of Death Valley.

But that wasn't the entire reason either.

The reason was the eight foot tall portal hovering over the heavily warded stone platform. It had taken Luna and Harry a solid month of work to get the wards cut just right.

Luna watched as the portal flickered and finished opening. She was naked, except for the protective glyphs that her husband had painted all over her skin. Fortunately, the paint was water resistant, because otherwise the sweat would have washed the glyphs away, and she would have been extra crispy within seconds. She gave a her hips an extra shake - Harry was watching from the lip of the canyon, ready to accio her if things went wrong again.

A Heliopath stepped through the portal from the Sun.

It had taken almost fifty years, but she had finally done it.

"Greetings, your hotness," Luna bowed slightly as her translation spell turned her words into flashes of light.

"I hope the journey was not too tiring. Would you like a refreshing beverage?" Luna gestured at the ornate Djinn bottle sitting on the warded stone next to the the portal.

the Heliopath nodded its head and took the heavily magicked item, pulling out the stopper. A white mist exploded out of the bottle, only to be sucked into the Heliopath's mouth.

"NOOOO!" came a faint scream as the vapor was completely incinerated by temperatures approaching those in the sun.

The Heliopath gave several flashes, which the translation spell turned into, "Mmm. Tastes like chicken."

* * *

><p>Epilogue the last.<p>

"Double great? Is Voldemort really gone for good?" The question came from the candy haired boy that Harry was tucking into bed.

"Well, the Heliopath inhaled the majority of his soul. But I'm not certain if that was enough to destroy him – souls are notoriously hard to damage. So who knows? Maybe when the Heliopath next took a whizz, out came Voldemort. If that's the case, the Dark Lord is trapped in the sun, where he is continuously being fried. I doubt his sanity is still intact."

"I still think you should have put him in the moon instead. How cool would that be? He'd be the man in the moon, and we could wave to him"

"Next time there's a dark lord, it'll be your turn to deal with him, and then you get to decide where to stick him." Harry ruffled his descendant's hair before getting up. "Light's out, kiddo."


End file.
